On June 14, New Mexico Stands Up! Attorney Jonathan Diener served a Cease-and-Desist letter to New Mexico State University (NMSU) Chancellor Dan Arvizu demanding an immediate end to the university's student vaccine mandate.
New Mexico Stands Up! is non-partisan organization that is working to protect the health freedom of residents across the state, according to the group's website. The organization opposes a decision by New Mexico State University (NMSU) to impose a new COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all students, including high school students attending dual credit classes. This new requirement comes at a time when similar mandates are being eliminated at many universities around the country. Universities in Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, Tennessee and Hawaii have ended their mandates.
"New Mexico Stands Up! is prepared to pursue legal action against New Mexico State University if it continues to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for students," Diener said in press release. "NMSU’s illegal mandate exposes students to compulsory risks in order to attend college and, in so doing, directly violates Federal and State law."
"The New Mexico Civil Rights Act NMS § 41-4A-1 provides protection against deprivation of rights or privileges by institutions of higher education. Furthermore, the discharge or suspension of a student for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine is a violation of that person’s right to life and liberty under the 14th Amendment and a violation of the right to bodily integrity which has been held to emanate from various Bill of Rights amendments, including the 4th, 5th, and 9th amendments of the US Constitution."
The letter has received the support of the New Mexico Freedoms Alliance.
"I have been contacted by numerous parents and students who are upset over NMSU’s discriminatory student vaccine mandate," Sarah Smith, a New Mexico Freedoms Alliance leader said in a press release. "This mandate is not about health, given that the health authorities themselves acknowledge the vaccines do not prevent either catching or transmitting the illness. “Long term safety studies are still ongoing for all COVID-19 vaccines, so the long-term risks are unknown. Young women should not have to choose between being able to go to college and potentially risking their ability to have healthy children. Young men should not have to face increased risks of heart problems in order to have access to higher education."
In addition to universities, vaccine mandates have been canceled by many companies and in many municipalities after enforcement for federal workers has been on-hold for months due to multiple lawsuits, as reported by Bloomberg. Even so, NMSU is now choosing to impose a vaccine mandate on students.
It is well-acknowledged that COVID-19 is low-risk for children and young adults. It’s also been found that vaccine effectiveness is lower for the Omicron variant than previous variants, according to UCL.
The CDC has acknowledged for some time now that COVID-19 vaccines do not completely prevent the spread of the COVID-19 illness.
The FDA has acknowledged multiple risks of the vaccines including increased rates of heart inflammation, especially in young men, risk of blood clots, immune thrombocytopenia (an autoimmune bleeding disorder where the person’s body is attacking the blood platelets) and Guillain Barre syndrome (an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the body’s nerve cells, which can result in extreme muscle weakness and paralysis).