Attorney says lawsuit to continue against state of Illinois despite vaccine mandate change

An attorney in a case against the state of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Corrections says his lawsuit will progress even with the department making changes to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

In April 2022, attorney and former GOP nominee for Attorney General Thomas DeVore filed a lawsuit against IDOC attempting to block Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive order requiring all DOC workers to be vaccinated.

DeVore said he was recently made aware the department removed its requirement for the vaccine. However, DeVore said this would not stop his lawsuit.

"Right now, in front of the 5th appellate district, we still have a case pending on behalf of my department of correction employees," DeVore told WMAY. "We are not going anywhere."

DeVore claims the change in protocol comes from IDOC struggling to find workers.

"As of Jan. 10, the vaccine and testing requirement for all DOC employees is gone because their union is trying to patronize them, so they don't keep losing membership," Devore said.

Those employees with the DOC who are not vaccinated will still be required to test for the virus once a week, according to an department email DeVore shared.

According to Devore, the mandate went into effect in 2021 and many workers have already been terminated after refusing to get the vaccine.

"Yeah, there were people fired," Devore said. "I heard from my friends that are pretty high up in the organization, and they are starting to call many of them back and have been sending the correspondence saying, 'OK, we are going to reinstate you, be here on Monday.'"

IDOC couldn't be immediately reached for comment but has refrained from commenting on pending litigation in the past.