WASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Tuesday officially dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but a new memo signed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion over how or whether to deploy unvaccinated troops.
Austin’s memo has been widely awaited since the Dec. 23 law gave him 30 days to revoke the mandate. The Department of Defense had already halted all related personnel actions, such as dismissing troops who refused to fire.
“The Department will continue to encourage and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all service members,” Austin said in the memo. “Vaccination increases operational readiness and protects the troops.”
Austin said commanders have the authority to maintain unit readiness and a healthy force. However, he added that other departmental policies – including mandates for other vaccines – remain in place. This includes, he said, “the ability of commanders to consider individual immunization status of personnel in deployment, deployment and other operational decisions as appropriate, including when immunization is required for travel to, or entry into, a foreign country.”
The contentious political issue that has divided America has forced more than 8,400 soldiers out of the military for refusing to obey a lawful order when they refused to receive the vaccine. Thousands of others applied for religious and medical exemptions. Austin’s memo ends those exemption requests.
Austin, who introduced the mandate in August 2021 after the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and as the coronavirus pandemic raged, was adamant to keep it up and insisted the vaccine be used to protect public health the troops needed. He and other defense leaders argued that troops, particularly those deployed abroad, had to receive up to 17 different vaccines for decades. No other vaccination mandates were affected by the new law.
But Congress agreed to rescind the mandate, with opponents grudgingly saying it may have already succeeded in vaccinating most of the force. Approximately 99% of active duty troops in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps had received the vaccine, and 98% of the Army. Guard and reserve rates are lower, but are generally over 90%.
Austin’s memo made no apologies for his continued support for the vaccine and his belief that the mandate kept the force healthy and able to protect America. The Pentagon’s immunization efforts, he said, “will leave a lasting legacy in the many lives we have saved, the world-class force we have been able to assemble, and the high level of preparedness we have maintained despite challenging public sector conditions.” have maintained good health.”
In addition to ending efforts to dismiss troops who refuse the vaccine, Austin’s memo said the records of those who requested exemptions and were refused will be updated and all letters of reference will be removed.
Those who were discharged for refusing to comply with a lawful order to take the vaccine received either an honorable discharge or a general discharge on honorable terms. Austin’s memo says that anyone who has been discharged can ask their military service to request a change in the “characterization of their discharge” in their personnel files. However, it is not said what possible corrections might be awarded.
Austin’s decision leaves commanders some discretion, allowing them to decide whether they can require vaccines in certain circumstances, such as certain foreign deployments.
Military officials vividly remember the overwhelming crisis of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy’s aircraft carrier, which was decommissioned in early 2020 and grounded in Guam for 10 weeks as the nascent virus swept through the ship. More than 1,000 crew members eventually became infected and one sailor died.
Military leaders fear there could be similar outbreaks as troops begin rejecting the vaccine in large numbers. The risk is particularly high on small ships or submarines, where soldiers are crammed into a confined space for weeks or months, or on critical combat missions such as B. those with special units that are used in small teams.
According to data compiled by the military in early December, the Marine Corps is leading the service with 3,717 discharged Marines. 2,041 were discharged from the Navy, 1,841 from the Army and 834 from the Air Force. The Air Force data includes the Space Force.
It is unclear whether the services, which are facing recruitment challenges, will or can allow any of these service members to return to duty if they still meet all necessary fitness and other requirements.
Lawmakers argued that ending the mandate would help with recruitment. Defense officials have pushed back by saying that while it could help a little, a department poll for the first nine months of last year found that a large majority said the mandate hadn’t changed the likelihood that they would find employment would consider.
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