Uh-oh. At least two adverse reactions in those who’ve received the new Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine have prompted British regulators to warn people with a history of serious allergic reactions not to get the shot.
■ Illinois health care workers have been designated among the first to get the vaccine, but not all of them want to be first.
■ Even people who’ve been vaccinated should keep wearing masks …
■ … but Gov. Pritzker says he hopes to give Illinoisans “some ability to prove they’ve had the vaccine” (at 46:20 in video of his news conference yesterday).
■ The Conversation: When will kids get it?
■ The Onion: “‘I Am Immortal!’ Screams 90-Year-Old British Woman Embarking On Epic Post-Vaccination Bender.”
800,000. The total for confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois has now passed that mark …
■ … and, the AP says, the national numbers are headed up “because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.”
■ Coronavirus testing stations are coming to Midway and O’Hare airports.
‘He has now embarrassed himself.’ A Tribune editorial slams Ald. Tom Tunney for turning his Ann Sather restaurant into “the pandemic version of a speak-easy.”
■ Tunney faces the prospect of a fine from the city, which has formally cited Sather’s for letting people dine inside.
■ Flouting a new 15% cap on what it can charge the city’s restaurants to deliver their food, DoorDash is now imposing what one alderman calls a “disgraceful” $1.50 delivery fee on customers.
‘Ironic, out-of-touch hypocrisy.’ Columnist Mark Konkol condemns the Chicago Teachers Union for blaming the push to reopen schools on racism.
■ Chalkbeat Chicago: As some students return to class—but others don’t—teachers need to master the skill of simultaneous online and in-person instruction.
■ Despite parents’ pleas, the city’s school system has no plans to cut screen time for remote learners.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? An employee of the Chicago office charged with keeping watch on police misconduct, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, was arrested in connection with August looting in the city.
■ The flagship Gap store on a stretch of Michigan Avenue that was heavily looted earlier this year is reportedly closing.
Sorry about the racism. Thirteen years after the official retirement of its insultingly comic mascot, Chief Illiniwek, the University of Illinois is launching a new round of amends …
■ … including creation of an “Illinois Spirit and Traditions Council.”
‘75 years of alerting the world to impending doom.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg wishes happy birthday to the born-in-Chicago Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
■ An anniversary edition—with archival contributions from Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy—is available free online.
Not so smart. Security researchers report alarming holes in the programming of millions of “Internet of Things” devices, including thermometers, smart plugs and printers.
■ Apple’s getting ready to lower the boom on apps that don’t take privacy seriously.
■ The Trib’s Christopher Borrelli rounds up 31 of the year’s best gift books. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Critic Richard Roeper sarcastically praises director Steven Soderbergh for making “the best Woody Allen film in years,” HBO Max’s Let Them All Talk.
‘A very very sad day.’ Paul McCartney was among those remembering Beatle John Lennon yesterday, on the 40th anniversary of his murder.
■ Then-WXRT DJ Bobby Skafish and then-WIND DJ Steve King revisit their time on the air as the story broke.
■ Your Square publisher worked long the next day.
■ Bidding in the auction of an album Lennon autographed for his assassin just hours before the crime has passed $450,000.
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