UTEP may require vaccines for some workers to meet federal contractor mandate

EL PASO, Texas -- Under President Joe Biden’s recent executive order, federal contractors have until Dec. 8 to ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

On Wednesday, New Mexico State University announced that it will require vaccines for all employees, citing that federal mandate, and the alternative of weekly Covid testing will be eliminated. 

Under the executive order, federal contractors must comply or otherwise may lose out on federal funding.

Justin Bannister, the university’s spokesman, said NMSU receives over $90 million a year and it "is not going to jeopardize the federal funding that it receives.”

According to NMSU, so far 85% percent of the university’s roughly 7,500 employees have already been vaccinated. Bannister said NMSU officials were "hopeful that all those employees that were not yet vaccinated will get vaccinated.”

He said those who fail to do so by Dec. 8 could face termination: “If they choose not to (get vaccinated), the university will be prepared to take what steps are needed in order to ensure that our operations continue."

Meantime, UTEP said it has not mandated vaccines for employees because UT System rules don't require it.

The UT System currently has "thousands of federal contracts in place" that "represent several billion dollars of investment."

A UTEP spokesman said on Thursday that the university "will endeavor to comply with federal vaccine requirements for specific, covered individuals to protect these investments in our state."