Pentagon officially DROPS Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate to US military after more than 6,000 soldiers were fired for refusing to fire
- The removal of the vaccination mandate was written into this year’s annual defense budget
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin nonetheless encouraged all troops to get vaccinated
- Republican lawmakers celebrated the formal end of the mandate
The Pentagon has officially dropped the US military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate nearly 17 months after it was first imposed by the Biden administration under Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The controversial policy has come under fire from Republicans since its inception amid an increasingly dire troop recruitment crisis.
The latest order from defense officials follows language in the 2023 Defense Budget bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in late December.
According to Defense Ministry data quoted by Portal, 3,717 marines, 1,816 soldiers and 2,064 sailors have since been fired for refusing to be vaccinated.
Austin encouraged all service members to continue getting vaccinated and boosted, but announced the military would no longer fire troops who refuse to be shot.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formal lifting of the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in a memo Tuesday night
Biden ordered all military members to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in August 2021
“No person currently serving in the armed forces shall be separated from the sole reason for their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination when requesting an exemption from religious, administrative or medical visits,” the Pentagon chief said.
“Military departments will update the records of these individuals to remove any prejudicial acts solely related to the refusal of such requests, including letters of reprimand.”
In August 2021, Biden ordered all 1.3 million active-duty US military personnel to be fully vaccinated.
Soldiers who refused to be shot were threatened with a loss of salary, among other disciplinary measures.
Defense officials blamed such resistances on misinformation about vaccines. Nonetheless, Austin noted in his memo the high rate of vaccination among troops of all branches of service.
“The Department has made COVID-19 vaccination as easy and convenient as possible, resulting in vaccines being administered to over two million service members and 96 percent of the armed forces – active and reserve – being fully vaccinated,” Austin wrote.
Preventive Medicine Services NCOIC Sergeant First Class Demetrius Roberson administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a Soldier September 9, 2021 at Fort Knox, Kentucky
The mandate has weathered lawsuits and much GOP criticism, but Democrats agreed to include language in the annual National Defense Authorization Act to end it to get enough Republicans on board the must-pass legislation.
“I am pleased to report that the military COVID vaccine mandate is finally END, thanks to the hard work of conservatives in Congress,” Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller said Tuesday night.
‘Some said an NDAA revokes the [vaccine] Mandate would never expire. I’m so happy we fought and got this victory for our TROOPS!’
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky rejoiced: “One of the worst political decisions affecting military readiness is finally over.”
In his Tuesday night memo, Austin pointed out that whether to use unvaccinated troops is still up to military commanders.
“Other standing department policies, procedures and processes related to immunizations remain in effect,” Austin wrote.
“This includes the ability of commanders to consider individual immunization status of personnel when making deployment, deployment and other operational decisions, where appropriate.”