North Cook News

A Winnetka Starbucks is requiring vaccinations.

A Twitter user highlighted the issue by posting a sign placed on the Starbucks’ table.

“Please show proof of vaccination at the register in order to stay and enjoy the cafe,” the sign said.

Note on Starbucks table | Emma Woodhouse / Twitter

The move comes after Cook County required anyone ages 5 and above to show vaccination proof for restaurants, bars, gyms and a variety of other indoor public settings.

Some are now calling for a general boycott of Starbucks.

“More evidence of the in-progress Human Rights Heist. Solution? Regardless of your vax status, DNP (Do Not Patronize),” a Twitter post under the alias Emma Woodhouse said.

Three U.S. governors, all Republicans, have come out publicly against vaccine passports: Florida's Ron DeSantis, Georgia's Brian Kemp and Texas' Greg Abbott.

Locally, Mayor Keith Pekau — a candidate for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District — has said Orland Park will not be requiring vaccine proof,  South Cook News said.

Similarly, Americans overall have rejected the idea of mandatory vaccination to use everyday facilities, according to Pew Research.  Of respondents 88% said, “There’s too much pressure on Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine” and 81% responded yes to “We don’t really know yet if there are serious health risks from COVID-19 vaccines”. Another 81% agree with the statement that “Public health officials are not telling us everything they know about COVID-19 vaccines.”

An Axios-Ipsos poll found 20% of Americans responded they never intend to get vaccinated.

Pharmaceutical companies in 2022 are expected to make $52 billion on the sale of booster shots, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The effectiveness of vaccination for the coronavirus has been called into question as well as the protection vaccines may offer.  

According to a February 2021 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, of 596,618 Israelis, 39 deaths were reported due to COVID among the non-vaccinated and 20 COVID deaths among the vaccinated, a reduction in risk of pandemic-related death of 0.0003%.

In many cases the vaccinated are reporting subsequent infection from COVID. A Michigan study between Jan. 1 and March 3, 2020 of COVID-vaccinated residents found that 246 "considered fully vaccinated were later diagnosed with the virus, and three have died," The Detroit News said.

Other researchers are outright opposed to vaccinating children.

Harvard Professor Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease expert, wrote in March 2021 that “thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should. COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers. Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.”

In April 2021, Dr. Vinay Prasad, a University of California professor, San Francisco physician and epidemiologist called it "ludicrous and unethical" to vaccinate children before vaccinating 70- and 80-year-olds around the world, according to MedPage Today.

In large parts of the world the vaccines are completely unavailable. For instance, Nigeria is emblematic of areas of the globe that may never have vaccine access. Nigeria is Africa’s largest country by population with over 206 million residents. It has only a 2.1% vaccination rate that is unlikely to increase substantially during the pandemic crisis, GoogleNews said.