Showdowns loom as police, prison guards and airport workers resist vaccines

Police officers, prison guards and airport-security workers are among the public-safety employees resisting COVID-19 vaccines, with showdowns over the issue in the works as deadlines to get the shots arrive.

Law enforcement officers were among the first front-line workers to be offered coronavirus vaccines, yet by most accounts their vaccination rates are below or about the same as figures for the public at large. 

In Chicago, the union representing 13,000 police officers is advising members to ignore a mandate from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Friday. If officers don't get vaccinated or agree to be tested twice a week at their own expense, the city says it'll suspend them without pay.