Universities and colleges are working out their return to classroom protocols and that includes whether or not to require the COVID-19 vaccine for their students. For local universities that decision has already been made and it's not a good idea in my opinion.

UTEP, El Paso Community College, New Mexico State University officials told a local news station that they will not be requiring their students or staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine to return to their campuses. Vaccines are "encouraged" but for the most part, officials with the three universities said that they don't feel that they can force someone to get vaccinated. Pretty lame if you ask me.

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If you enroll your child into a public school district you have to prove that they have their up-to-date vaccinations. You can enroll them but you would be required to get a special dispensation for them to be allowed to be enrolled without the vaccines.

I get that not everyone is super excited about a vaccine that was developed in almost miraculously record time and just like masks, it has become a completely politicized topic, but if you drink some tea from the grocery store that says it will make you lose weight or trust the vitamins that some reality tv show star sells on their TikTok page how can you question actual science?

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I think that UTEP, EPCC, and NMSU are making a boneheaded mistake. We don't have things like smallpox, chickenpox, polio, and a host of other dread diseases anymore because we've achieved herd immunity through aggressive vaccination programs. We need to do the same thing with COVID-19. Over half a million Americans have died in a year. We need to do all we can to stop the deaths and everyone getting vaccinated is the only way to do that.

Bad call UTEP, EPCC, and NMSU. You are supposed to be centers of education. Educate yourselves and require the vaccine for students and employees.

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