Illinois Day Care Workers Must Be Vaccinated Or Face Testing, Pritzker Orders

CHICAGO — Expanding on previous executive orders that require health care workers, school personnel and state employees in congregate facilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing for the virus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday the requirement would be extended to staff at licensed day care centers.

According to the governor's office, the new executive order will apply to more than 55,000 workers at the 2,872 daycare centers licensed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide child care outside of homes for groups of children up to age 12.

Pritzker said in a statement announcing the policy that vaccinations make communities safer for children too young to receive a coronavirus vaccine.

“By extending vaccine-or-test requirements to those who work at licensed day care centers, we are adding another level of protection for our youngest residents and preventing outbreaks in daycare centers as more and more parents return to work,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker first announced a vaccination requirement for certain state employees on Aug. 4, following that up with the order covering teachers and health care workers on Aug. 26.

His Sept. 3 executive order laying out the policy for health care workers, school personnel, higher education students and staff at facilities operated by the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs, Human Services, Corrections and Juvenile Justice called for the state to "negotiate effectuating this Executive Order with the relevant labor unions, and to bargain these provisions as appropriate under the law."

Since then, the Pritzker administration has reached an agreement with five unions, most recently a deal with the Teamsters on Wednesday that brought the total of state workers covered under union agreements requiring vaccines to nearly 2,100, according to the governor's office.

State employees will receive an additional personal day to encourage vaccinations. Employees may be compensated at regular pay if they are unable to receive a vaccination during their regular shift, and vaccinated employees will receive paid "COVID time" if they contract a breakthrough case of the coronavirus. The paid time off will not use up additional benefit time.

As negotiations have continued, Pritzker has postponed the effective date of the earlier executive order.

As of Friday, there was a deadline of Tuesday for state employees and contractors in applicable positions to get the first of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson jab. Second doses of two-dose vaccines must be administered by Nov. 30, according to Pritzker's Oct. 15 executive order.

Daycare workers will have until Dec. 3 to get their first dose, with the second dose due Jan. 3. Any worker who is not yet fully vaccinated by Dec. 3 must take tests every week, at a minimum.

“Parents and families across Illinois trust daycare staff with the health and safety of their young children every day," DCFS Director Marc Smith said in a statement announcing the new executive order. "Vaccinated daycare workers offer another level of protections and an increased level of comfort for parents and caregivers whose infants and toddlers are not yet eligible for the vaccine."

Among state agencies, records show Illinois Veterans Affairs facilities have the highest rate of vaccination, while at IDOC, less than half of the state's over 13,000 prison staff have reported they at fully vaccinated, WLS- TV reported.

Grace Hou, secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, said the vaccination requirement will help daycare workers put their health first and better protect the children in their care.

“Our goals are simple," Hou said in a statement. "We want to keep our youth protected from COVID-19 in every way possible.”