The Board of Trustees have approved an El Camino College vaccination mandate.

During the Sept. 7 Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting, all trustees discussed and asked questions to El Camino College (ECC) President Brenda Thames about the new vaccine mandate that was just adopted.

“I’m very much in favor for giving authorization to President Thames and her team to implement in the best way that her and her team see fit,” Trustee Kenneth Brown said.

All employees are to become fully vaccinated and show proof of vaccination by Nov. 8. Students must also do the same, but must do it by Jan. 3, 2022, according to the mandate document.

One request that was brought up by Academic Senate President Darcie McClelland during the public comment section of the meeting is for the mandate to cover individuals such as contractors that work on campus.

Currently, the new mandate does not require individuals like contractors or other third party individuals that work on campus to get and show proof of vaccination, but multiple BOT members have expressed interest in looking into how to add these individuals into the mandate at a later time.

“I totally agree with Trustee [Trisha Murakawa] and the Academic Senate. We do have to extend this to the contractors, to the venders, this is the real world so please have a report from the staff to look into this,” BOT President Nilo Vega Michelin said.