* Background is here if you need it. WTTW…

With less than three weeks until in-person classes resume, Chicago Public Schools has announced it will require all teachers and staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine by the fall.

CPS on Friday announced the vaccine mandate will affect all employees, from school-based teachers and staff to central office workers, vendors and all other Board of Education employees.

“The science is clear: higher populations of vaccinated people means better health outcomes in communities, safer places of work and public spaces,” interim CPS CEO Jose Torres said in a statement. “This is the right move for the greater good of our school communities and will help ensure we have a successful and healthy school year starting on Monday, August 30.”

Under the new policy, all CPS employees must submit proof of full vaccination by Oct. 15, except those who qualify for a medical or religious exemption. Staffers who are without an approved exemption and aren’t fully vaccinated by Oct. 15 will be ineligible to work and won’t be paid until they are fully vaccinated and provide confirmation to the district.

Per CPS, 67% of the district’s 38,000 employees are fully vaccinated as of June, the most recent data available, while 78% of all employees are either fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or had a vaccination scheduled.

* Sun-Times…

The Chicago Teachers Union supported the mandate but said the city “must do much more.” CTU leaders have called on the district to adjust the metrics that would call for a return to remote learning, and to expand school-based vaccination programs.

“We urge the mayor’s CPS team to build on this safety standard by concretely addressing critical outstanding safety issues, and investing CPS’ and the City’s $4 billion in federal relief funds in what our students and families need to return to schools safely this fall, and for schools to remain open,” the union said in a statement.

Kids as young as 12 are eligible to be vaccinated. Students are not required to be vaccinated for the upcoming school year.

* Tribune…

Between 80% and 90% of Chicago Teachers Union members are fully vaccinated, CTU Deputy General Counsel Thad Goodchild told reporters in a virtual news conference Friday.

“Vaccines are the best tool we have to provide safety during the pandemic, to end the pandemic,” Goodchild said. “They protect not only vaccinated individuals, but all the people that vaccinated individuals come into contact with, including students under 12 years old who are not yet eligible for vaccines. So we’ve been fighting to get CPS and the city to do more in using the school system to expand vaccination program efforts.”

He continued: “It’s not our members that the city is having the most trouble getting vaccinated. It’s members of school communities and neighborhoods across the city who have good reasons not to trust local government, but they do trust the teachers in their schools. And CPS and the city need to accept our help, our members’ help in getting more Chicagoans vaccinated.”