68 percent of UTEP student-athletes fully vaccinated with fall sports competition on the horizon

Posted: Aug 14, 2021 / 07:50 PM MDT
/ Up to date: Aug 14, 2021 / 07:51 PM MDT

EL PASO, TEXAS (KTSM) – 68 p.c of UTEP’s student-athletes have been absolutely vaccinated for COVID-19 as of Saturday, Aug. 14, a UTEP official has confirmed to KTSM.

That proportion contains athletes throughout 14 sports activities; of a complete 279 athletes at UTEP, 190 have been absolutely vaccinated.

UTEP supplied KTSM with the vaccination charges for soccer, soccer and volleyball, three fall sports activities which have begun or will start competitors within the coming weeks.

The soccer crew at present has a vaccination fee of 61 p.c, or 73 of the 120 soccer student-athletes.

UTEP ladies’s volleyball has a present COVID vaccination fee of 86 p.c, that means 18 of the 21 gamers on the volleyball crew have been full vaccinated.

The Miners’ ladies’s soccer crew has the best vaccination fee of these three sports activities. 29 of the 30 gamers (97 p.c) on the soccer crew have been full vaccinated as of Aug. 14.

Including up simply these three sports activities, 120 of 171 student-athletes between soccer, soccer and volleyball have been vaccinated for a proportion of 70 p.c, barely greater than the general quantity the college reported to KTSM.

All the charges listed are just for student-athletes and don’t embrace UTEP coaches. KTSM has submitted an open data request to UTEP to obtain the fully-vaccinated marks for coaches and student-athletes in all 14 sports activities and is at present awaiting a response.

A UTEP official advised KTSM that as extra student-athletes arrive to campus for the autumn semester, the vaccination fee is predicted to extend.

UTEP Director of Athletics Jim Senter mentioned at a press convention on Aug. 5 that he would love the complete athletic division to see a totally vaccinated fee someplace between 70-90 p.c for its scholar athletes, however acknowledged that UTEP had “some work to do” to get there.

“I would like that we now have no less than herd immunity and in the event you ask individuals, ‘what’s the proportion for herd immunity?’ that even fluctuates a bit,” Senter mentioned. “70, 75, 80, 85, 90 p.c. A few of that herd immunity is perhaps dictated by what sport you play and the way shut in proximity you might be to different people as you play your sport.

“I would like to see a one hundred pc vaccination, as a result of I imagine it’ll save lives and it’ll suppress the virus from being unfold to different extra weak populations,” Senter continued. “That’s my aim; I don’t imagine we’ll be there, nor do I feel we’ll get there, not simply on our groups however in El Paso and in America.”

As of Aug. 14, UTEP’s fully-vaccinated fee of 68 p.c is under Senter’s low-end estimation (70 p.c) of the place he’d just like the athletic division to be. In El Paso as a complete, 71 p.c of residents ages 12 and over are absolutely vaccinated; 83.4 p.c are partially vaccinated.

That quantity dips significantly across the state of Texas, which has a totally vaccinated fee of 45 p.c; 51 p.c of individuals in the US are absolutely vaccinated.

Senter spent a portion of his Aug. 5 press convention encouraging student-athletes, coaches and all individuals who hadn’t but been vaccinated to take action, whereas additionally acknowledging that it’s every particular person’s alternative.

“All the information exhibits that folk who’re vaccinated have a a lot less-likelihood to contract the virus and in the event that they do, they’ll most likely have minimized results,” mentioned Senter. “In order that’s our message to our student-athletes and our college, employees and college students. However, that’s each single particular person’s particular person and private alternative.”

UTEP’s soccer vaccination fee of 61 p.c is lower than the speed at New Mexico State. According to the Las Cruces Sun News, 74.3 p.c of the Aggies’ soccer crew was absolutely vaccinated as of Aug. 3. Per the Solar Information, NMSU’s total student-athlete vaccination fee was 64 p.c as of Aug. 3, lower than the general fee at UTEP.

UTEP head coach Dana Dimel advised the media on Aug. 5 that he was “urging” his gamers to get vaccinated, however once more acknowledged that it was as much as the gamers.

“Our job is to coach them,” mentioned Dimel. “You’ll be able to’t do so much as a head coach; it’s their private alternative so I’ve to remain in my lane. However increasingly of our gamers are getting vaccinated.”

UTEP soccer will open the season Aug. 28 on the street within the Battle of I-10 vs. New Mexico State at 7:30 p.m. at Aggie Memorial Stadium.