As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to kill people in our communities, controversy over the vaccine has arised as well. For those working in the city of Chicago, several unions have pushed back against mayor Lightfoot’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
I myself support the vaccine and received it as soon as I was able to. I also encourage others to receive the vaccine themselves. Although I do not support Lightfoot’s vaccination mandate.
The Chicago police union contains a large number of members that do not wish to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. The FOP(Fraternal Order of Police) made it clear that those who are not vaccinated will only have to undergo weekly testing without loss of pay.
If Lightfoot decides that police officers who are not vaccinated won’t be allowed to return to work or receive pay, the gun violence epidemic will only continue to take more lives.
The mothers who lost a child to gun violence can continue to hope that justice will be brought to her deceased, innocent child. Mothers with children in Chicago can know that if they call the police to protect their baby, their baby will be protected.
Lightfoot has made it clear that everyone must be fully vaccinated by October 15th without the option of weekly testing.
Lightfoot stated, “Now, I haven’t gotten a full readout from the meeting today, but it’s foolish, when we’ve buried four police officers who’ve died of COVID. We just last week memorialized their stars at police public safety headquarters.”
Previously, the Chicago Teachers Union and Lightfoot struggled to meet a common ground on several occasions. This ultimately led to days long strikes and Chicago public schools students to miss several days of school.
When Lightfoot refused to meet a common ground and understand the CTU(Chicago Teachers Union), it led to students missing several days of school. For days, students were denied their right to receive an education because of the conflict between Lightfoot and a union who wanted to be treated fairly.
Present day, Lightfoot continues to not understand the other side, to not place herself into the shoes of those she has come to a disagreement with.
Instead, she chooses to speak on behalf of fallen police officers even though she has no police experience herself.
Instead, she used the police officers who have fallen to Covid in order to explain why all FOP members, many of which are against the vaccine, are morally obligated to become vaccinated.
She continues to be insensitive and unable to empathize with the people of Chicago, including members of unions.
If city workers, such as CPD(Chicago Police Department) were not allowed to work unless they were fully vaccinated without the option of weekly testing, our city would only become more dangerous. If the police force were to suddenly shrink, our city, already plagued by violence, would only become more violent.
Through research and studies, it’s become evident that the Covid-19 vaccine saves lives. However, more children in Chicago have been shot this year than in comparison to the number of children who have died from Covid-19 across the United States.
Rather than forcing city workers to become vaccinated, Lightfoot should mandate either becoming vaccinated or being tested weekly. We should all have the choice to decide whether or not we want to become vaccinated or be tested weekly.
For the public safety of all, police officers should be given this option in order to prevent our city from becoming more dangerous and more lives taken away because of gun violence.