Sangamon Sun

Republican gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine struggles to understand how Gov. J.B. Pritzker can justify taking the action he has in mandating that virtually everyone be vaccinated at schools across the state.

“Stop bullying Illinois children into getting an experimental vaccine,” Rabine recently posted on Facebook and Twitter. “I’m calling on JB Pritzker to immediately issue an executive order banning K-12 school districts, private schools and colleges in Illinois from mandating and requiring students to get a COVID vaccine.”

Part of Rabine’s reasoning centers on the fact that of the three COVID vaccinations currently available only the Pfizer shot is approved by the FDA for emergency use in children ages 12-18.

The University of Illinois Springfield Urbana is among the latest campuses mandating that all students and employees be vaccinated before the start of the fall semester.

Those not vaccinated will be required to wear face coverings and take part in on-campus testing that includes multiple checks each week.

Rabine has long been a critic of Pritzker’s policies.

“I’m running because I can see my family, my friends’ families and so many others that just want to get out of here,” he recently told IllinoisChannelTV. “It bothers me so bad. I’ve been in business for 40 years, the last 20 building businesses as a leader, understanding what great leadership looks like and it’s not what we see in our governor and our mayor of Chicago. I’m confident we need a leadership mindset that understands how to build leaders and doesn’t rule like royalty.”

Rabine insists his many experiences make him the perfect person for the job.

“In businesses and life you have strong differentia that make you, bring a different light to anything,” he said. “I understand how it works attracting jobs to our state and we do a lousy job of that. I understand how it works when it comes to taxing people out of state and we do a good job of that.”