“We rise or we fall together. And it feels like we’re falling, fast. Someone is going to have to be willing to take the political risk, for all our sakes.”

Chicago school system officials say they have some data from appointments that were allocated to school staffers, but medical privacy laws limit their ability to publicize a firm count. A plan that recently cleared the school board will require school employees to disclose their vaccination status and, eventually, require vaccinations.

County health officials who oversee the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say they misunderstood state guidelines for vaccinating higher education employees and erroneously allowed hundreds of people who weren’t yet eligible — including coaches in the basketball program — to sign up for COVID-19 inoculations in early February.

“Politicians who rule Illinois could point to the deadly energy crisis in Texas and say, ‘Do you see why regulations are needed? Do you realize the value of investing in government and infrastructure? You get what you pay for.’”