Chicago will continue to lag behind the State of Illinois in opening up vaccine availability

So reports ABC News, in this article by Marlene Lenthang entitled, "Chicago mayor defies governor, refuses to open COVID-19 vaccine to all due to uptick in cases." An excerpt:

Lightfoot noted that the uptick in cases emerged primarily on the North Side of the city in neighborhoods like Old Town, Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Portage Park, especially among 18-to-39-year-olds.

"We're not going to see anything more significant in the reopening front until we see those numbers stabilize and start to come down," Lightfoot said.

She blamed the spike in infections on young people resuming life as normal as the warm weather moves in. She tweeted Tuesday, "Folks, the pandemic is not over. Warmer weather is not an excuse to make reckless decisions."

This is craziness, and must end in tears.

Yes, the Mayor is surely correct when she says the pandemic is not over. Yes, she is likewise correct when she says that people should not act foolishly just because the weather is getting better. People, even 18-to-39-year-olds, need to take responsibility for their own actions. And to recognize, I might add, their obligations, not only to themselves, but to the rest of society.

That said, the only justifiable rationale for rationing vaccines has been scarcity: We gave shots first to those most at risk -- seniors in nursing homes, then to other old folks, first responders, teachers conducting classes in person, grocery store clerks. Old folks were most at risk for severe complications; they were the most likely to tax our hospital resources. The rest were a priority because they were most likely to spread the disease, even unknowingly, because many might not even develop symptoms.

Now others, no doubt chafing like the rest of us from the year's worth of lockdowns, are venturing out and about. They shouldn't be jumping the gun.

But the City should not be imperiling all of us, especially with contagious new variants spreading, by not doing something about it.

Look... the City, bowing to the anguished howls of the restaurant and hospitality industry, and to its own incresingly desperate need for tax revenues, has started to ease restrictions on restaurants and bars and other places of public amusement. Essentially, then, the City has invited the 18-to-39-year-olds back into the streets, even while scolding them for doing so.

If cases really are going up, and there's no reason to doubt otherwise, the City can either close everything down again... or vaccinate the people in the street.

Vaccines are not as scarce as they were in January, and every day they are less so. City Health Department workers should be flooding the streets where people are congregating, offering vaccinations to those wandering in and out of newly reopened taverns. Register them as they meander down the public ways, and innoculate them immediately, preferably with the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine so no follow-ups are necessary. Turn potential super-spreaders into viral dead ends.

Doesn't the City ever want this to end?