Dupage Policy Journal

Those 5 and over will no longer be granted entry into the DuPage Children’s Museum without a vaccination card.

The change in policy becomes effective Monday, Jan. 3.

“DuPage Children's Museum (DCM) will require all visiting members and guests who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (ages 5 and up) to show proof of vaccination prior to entry into the museum,” the museum said on its website.

In addition the museum is requiring those 2 years and older to wear masks.

“DCM requires proof of vaccinations as described above in addition to all existing DCM COVID-19 mitigation policies. The vaccine requirement does not change DCM’s masking policies,” the museum 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. Many argue that requiring citizens to become vaccinated is a losing battle.

A recent Pew Research report found that Americans overall reject the idea of mandatory vaccination to use everyday facilities like restaurants, gyms and museums. In addition, 88% reported, “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”. The majority, 81%, agree with the statement, “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.

That has not stopped Cook County from leading the way locally to require vaccines. Cook County is mandating vaccination proof for restaurants, bars, gyms and a variety of other indoor public settings.

The booster shot is expected to make $52 billion for pharmaceutical companies in 2022, according to The Wall Street Journal. Yet the effectiveness of vaccination for COVID 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 due to the coronavirus have been reported among the non-vaccinated and 20 COVID deaths among the vaccinated. This is a reduction in risk of pandemic death of 0.0003%.

In many cases COVID infections are being reported among those vaccinated. A Michigan study conducted between Jan. 1 and March 3, 2020 and targeting coronavirus-vaccinated residents found that 246 "considered fully vaccinated were later diagnosed with the virus, and three have died," as reported in The Detroit News.

Some researchers are outright opposed to vaccinating children on the grounds that it is unnecessary or even unethical. 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, University of California professor, San Francisco physician and epidemiologist Dr. Vinay Prasad 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 across 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 over the duration of the pandemic, according to GoogleNews.