12/27/21 – Urgent Call To Action! Permanent college student & staff vaccine mandates still being attempted! Action items and contacts below. Talking points below. Please read all of this.
Call To Action Details – Please copy and share this!
NV System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board Meeting **THURSDAY 12/30/21 @ 6:00 PM** Possible Vote to make PERMANENT COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATES For Staff & Drafting of a “letter of support for student covid vaccine mandate” to governor, board of health & legislature
In response to the failure of the Nevada Legislative Commission to pass permanent covid vaccine mandates for college students and for certain state employees, the Nevada Faculty Alliance has been pressuring NSHE to “do everything they can within their constitutional authority to maintain the vaccination requirements for NSHE” while the Governor’s office proceeds “with the promulgation of permanent regulations for students through the Board of Health”.* quote source article HERE
To read more about Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA) and NSHE and their roles in the prior covid-19 vaccine mandate and their continued attempts to make these mandates permanent for Nevada college students and staff members please visit http://healthfreedomnevada.com/nshe . There you can view their last petition to the Board of Health last summer prior to the emergency vaccine mandate made by the Board of Health and the current petition draft to be discussed and finalized in this week’s meeting (as forwarded to us by an anonymous member of their organization today) before being sent to the governor, the Board of Health and the Legislature in an attempt to push forward a permanent covid-19 vaccine mandate.
Please submit your public comment in opposition of Covid-19 staff and student vaccine mandates using the online form found here: https://nshe.nevada.edu/public-comment/ or by phone leaving a voicemail: (702) 800-4705 or (775) 300-7661 PRIOR TO THE START OF THE MEETING.
To attend in person in Las Vegas, Reno or Elko: System Administration, Las Vegas 4300 South Maryland Parkway, Board Room. Video or Telephone Conference Connection from the Meeting Site to: System Administration, Reno 2601 Enterprise Road, Conference Room AND Great Basin College, Elko 1500 College Parkway, Berg Hall Conference Room.
Meeting Link: https://nshe.nevada.edu/live/
Meeting Agenda: https://nshe.nevada.edu/wp-content/uploads/file/BoardOfRegents/Agendas/2021/12-dec-mtgs/BOR123021.pdf
If you further wish to share your views with the individual NSHE Board of Regents members please also send emails to each of them:
Carol Del Carlo-Chair Pro Tempore – cdelcarlo@nshe.nevada.edu
Amy Carvahlo-Vice Chair – acarvalho@nshe.nevada.edu
Joseph Arrascada – jarrascada@nshe.nevada.edu
Patrick Boylan – pboylan@nshe.nevada.edu
Byron Brooks – bbrooks@nshe.nevada.edu
Dr. Patrick Carter – pcarter@nshe.nevada.edu
Dr. Mark Doubrava – mdoubrava@nshe.nevada.edu
Jason Geddes – jgeddes@nshe.nevada.edu
Cathy McAdoo – cmcadoo@nshe.nevada.edu
Donald Mc Michael Sr – dmcmichael@nshe.nevada.edu
John Moran – jmoran@nshe.nevada.edu
Laura Perkins – lperkins@nshe.nevada.edu
Lois Tarkanian – ltarkanian@nshe.nevada.edu
And PLEASE share your thoughts with the president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, Kent Ervin ( kent.ervin@nevadafacultyalliance.org AND ervin@unr.edu ) who also sits on a NSHE committee and is the person who appears to be the main driving force behind the repeated attempts to mandate covid vaccines for college students and staff in Nevada.
Summary and Background
We all knew they would not give up. We need everyone emailing the Board of Regents of the Nevada Systems of Higher Education (NSHE) both for public comments and to their personal emails starting now. They are very upset the Legislative Commission did not pass the permanent stay of the student college covid mandates. Fuming. So they are back to the drawing board and being very subversive and manipulative.
Here is the background.
On August 7, 2021 the Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA) at the urging of its president, Kent Ervin, posted a Petition for a Safe Fall Semester, on the home page of their website. It was presumably sent to their membership as well. The actual petition and signatories can be viewed HERE. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Ervin forwarded this petition to NSHE and presented it to the state Board of Health on behalf of NFA and NSHE. The state Board of Health under the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services considered and unanimously voted to pass an emergency order to mandate all Nevada university, college and community college students be fully vaccinated by the time they enrolled for the 2022 Spring semester. They could submit religious and medical exemptions, which would be reviewed, considered and accepted or denied. This emergency mandate was only to last 120 days. It ended on December 10, 2021.
On December 21, 2021, the Department of Health and NSHE brought before the Legislative Commission of the Nevada Legislature the proposed changes to regulation making the vaccine mandate for students permanent. In a 6-6 vote, the proposed regulation was denied. 6 Republicans voted not to make the mandate permanent and 6 Democrats voted to make it permanent for all Nevada students of higher education.
From the start, NFA and NSHE seem to have been behind the proposing of these mandates and regulations. And president of NFA, Kent Ervin, who also happens to sit on a NSHE committee may be the one steering this ship. Mr. Ervin drafted the following letter to drum up support for the open petition that NSHE, seems to have been the person bringing this to the Board of Health last August and also appears to be the main proponent of this new petition in favor of vaccine mandates for college students and staff. Here is the letter and the drafted Open Petition:
Dear NFA members:
We hope you are having a pleasant winter break and holidays. Unfortunately, we need to alert you to current events and ask you to review and to consider signing an open petition sponsored by NFA.
- On December 21, the Legislative Commission by a 6-6 party-line vote failed to approve the Board of Health’s permanent regulation extending their August emergency regulation requiring student Covid vaccinations for Spring 2022 registration (NvIndy, LVRJ, ThisIsReno, KSNV/KRNV).
- Subsequently, the Chancellor instructed the NSHE colleges and Universities to drop Spring 2022 registration holds on unvaccinated and unexempted students.
- The Governor’s office issued a statement that the State will continue work to promulgate a permanent regulation on student vaccinations. However, the Board of Health public hearings previously scheduled for Dec. 28 and Jan 12 have been canceled.
- A special meeting of the Board of Regents has been scheduled for 6:00 pm on December 30 to discuss current vaccination mandates, including possible elimination or delay of implementation of the employee mandate and a possible letter of support for student vaccinations.
- The petition will be submitted to the Board of Regents.To add your individual voice, instructions for submitting public comments are at nshe.nevada.edu (written comments are read into the record and voicemail comments are played back, both strictly limited to two minutes). Or email regents.
The Nevada Faculty Alliance is sponsoring an open petition to the Governor, Chancellor, Regents, Presidents, Legislative Commission, and Board of Health to reinstate the student vaccination requirements and take other measures to promote safety on NSHE campuses. Please review the PETITION and sign if you agree.
Please feel free to pass this message on to colleagues, students, and family members.
In solidarity,
Kent Ervin (State President, NFA)
Doug Unger (Governmental Relations Committee Chair, NFA)
And the letter they will vote on to send this Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021:
Petition for Safe NSHE Campuses
This is an open petition by faculty, staff, students, and family membersof the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE),sponsored by the Nevada Faculty Alliance (www.NevadaFacultyAlliance.org).
PETITION TO Governor Sisolak, NSHE Chancellor Rose, Presidents Helens (GBC), Hilgersom (TMCC), Pollard(NSC), Sandoval (UNR), Whitfield (UNLV), and Zaragoza(CSN), Officer-in-Charge Dalpe (WNC),and members of the Legislative Commission of the 81st Legislature of the State of Nevada,the NSHE Board of Regents, the Nevada State Board of Health, and the NSHE COVID-19 Task Force:
• BECAUSE the shared goals of students, faculty, and staff of NSHE colleges and universities are to teach inperson in a safe manner and to avoid another transition to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic;
•BECAUSEin August 2021 the Board of Health issued an emergency regulation to require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for students registering for Spring 2022 classes; and subsequently the Board of Regents of the state of Nevada approved mandatory vaccinations for all NSHE employees as a condition of continued employment after December 31, 2021;
•BECAUSE on December 21, 2021, the Legislative Commission failed by a 6–6 vote to approve the Board of Health’s permanent regulation on vaccinations as a requirement for student attendance at NSHE institutions andthus allowed thestudent COVID-19 vaccination mandate to expire;
•BECAUSE widespread vaccination is the most effective way to prevent serious illness and death and to reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and because the available vaccines are remarkably safe and effective against all current variants,including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which has received full FDA approval(bit.ly/3enwNM9)and is thus isno longer experimental;• BECAUSE NSHE university students have long beenrequired to show proof of immunization for several other infectious diseases (with medical and religious exemptions), and, additionally, NSHE students who are not vaccinated are able to register for online or remote classes;
•BECAUSE 1,125universities and colleges nationally as of 12/22/2021 (bit.ly/3Ck5kFH)arerequiring proof ofCOVID-19 vaccinations for students and/or employees, manyrequiring boosters and robust testing protocols;• AND BECAUSEwe are outraged that six legislators on the Legislative Commission put political considerations ahead of the sound advice of medical experts and ignored the clear statutory authority of theBoard of Health over public health regulations,and thus have put the health and safety of NSHE students, faculty, and staff at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and have made our campuses less safe as workplaces and for in-person instruction.
Therefore, WE, the undersigned faculty, staff, students, and family members of the Nevada System of Higher Education:• DEMAND that the student vaccination mandate be immediately reinstated for Spring 2022 classes,under the emergency powers of the Governorif necessary, following the advice of the Board of Health of the state of Nevada and the Governor’s medical team;• DEMAND thatthe Legislative Commission reconvene to vote to accept the authority andthe public healthrecommendations of the Board of Health in the interests of the increased health and safety of our NSHE campuses and the health and safety of the greater community of our state;• DEMAND that the Board of Regents independently adopt the recommendations of the NSHE COVID-19 Task Force and the Board of Health to require vaccinations of all NSHE employees and of all NSHE students taking in-person classes (with allowances for medical and religious exemptions), and that the Board of Regents allow the colleges and universities to take all other appropriate public health measures;• AND DEMAND that the Chancellor and Presidents implement strong, science-based measures against infection from COVID-19—includingfree surveillance and diagnostic testing, face-coverings, and permitting remote or online instruction and work—andthat these measures be continued until the community risk from COVID-19 has been deemed by public health authorities to have subsided.
Talking Points
The current covid-19 vaccines are all under EUA. This includes Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and the Janssen (aka Johnson & Johnson). The only FDA approved covid-19 vaccine in the United States is the Pfizer Comirnaty, which is not available because it has not yet been produced or distributed. Challenge the members of the board of NSHE to identify a specific location (pharmacy or medical facility) in Nevada where a citizen can obtain the FDA approved vaccine. The Nevada DHHS Division of Health Care Financing and Policy Portal shows a list of Pharmacy announcements that are distributed to every pharmacy in the state. Here’s the one dated 8/25/21 announcing FDA approval of Comirnaty. Here’s the one dated 9/20/21 detailing reimbursement information for pharmacies giving the injections. A month after supposed FDA approval, each of the multi-dose vaccines being given in Nevada are clearly indicated in state and federal documents as being under EUA. It is against federal law to mandate an EUA product therefore these attempted mandates are illegal.
The following are factual rebuttals of point specifically made in the proposed letter above from NSHE advocating for mandatory vaccination:
- Covid-19 vaccines DO NOT prevent transmission of SARS COV2.
- Pfizer BioNTech IS NOT fully FDA approved. Comirnaty is and it is not available anywhere in Nevada.
- Pfizer BioNTech IS still experimental. Long term safety profile has not been determined.
- Students have very low risk of serious illness, hospitalization or death from SARS COV2. This risk is not significant and does not warrant the very real risk of adverse events from the vaccines.
- Religious and medical exemptions were regularly and almost universally denied by the universities while the emergency vaccine mandate was in place.
- Online courses are not of equal quality to in-person learning.