Los Alamos, NM, August 23, 2021— Triad National Security, LLC, the entity that operates Los Alamos National Laboratory will soon require COVID-19 vaccinations for its entire workforce. Under the requirement, full vaccination will be mandatory for all regular employees and on-site contractors and on-site subcontractors. This requirement will apply to all employees working on-site, those teleworking, and all new hires.
Laboratory Director Thom Mason announced the requirement Monday afternoon in a memo to the Laboratory’s workforce. The announcement coincides with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Monday to grant full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older.
“To meet our Laboratory’s critical mission requirements amid rising COVID-19 case rates in northern New Mexico and beyond, we must protect the entire workforce from the spread of this potentially severe disease. The best tool we have is vaccines,” Mason wrote in the memo. “With the recent announcement of full Food and Drug Administration approval for the Pfizer vaccine, along with the rapidly increasing number of infections, LANL has decided to make vaccines mandatory for all regular employees and on-site contractors and on-site subcontractors. This requirement will apply to all employees working on-site, those teleworking, and all new hires.”
More than 85% of the Laboratory’s employees and contractors are already fully vaccinated. The Laboratory will make an announcement in the near future about when all employees must be vaccinated.
Mason said the Laboratory’s operator, Triad National Security, LLC, wanted to announce the impending requirement in order to give the remaining unvaccinated Laboratory employees an opportunity to schedule their vaccination. Once the requirement begins, employees, contractors and subcontractors who do not have a full vaccination card on file with the Laboratory’s Occupational Medicine office will be referred to line management who will work with Human Resources for determination of whether employment will continue.
Vaccines are available to all employees and contractors through the Laboratory’s Occupational Medicine office. Today’s announcement does not affect existing COVID-19 policies – face coverings are still required for all employees and visitors on-site, and mandatory COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated employees will continue.