Red Lake Tribal Council unanimously passes COVID vaccine and testing mandate

The Red Lake Tribal Council recently passed a COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandate for tribal employees.

According to a resolution passed unanimously on Sept. 14, the mandate affects all persons who enter the Red Lake Reservation for employment and business purposes.

The mandate includes exemptions for pregnant women, those with documented medical conditions for which vaccination is not recommended, children under 12, and those with a religious belief or practice which does not permit vaccination.

Exemptions for philosophical, political or scientific views about the vaccine are not permitted, according to the resolution.

Those who do not follow the vaccination mandate will be subject to weekly COVID tests and required to provide documentation showing the test results.

Tribal programs and businesses are charged with verifying employee vaccination. Red Lake Gaming will also be required to enact a vaccination requirement policy.


Larissa Donovan is the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016. She covers all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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