Federal Court of Appeals strikes at Pentagon’s vaccine mandate and denies Biden administration’s attempt to rebuild US navy COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
The 5th U.S. District Court of Appeals on Monday denied The Navy’s request to restore the US Navy’s request for a vaccine against COVID-19 month after a federal judge in Fort Worth stopped mandate.
‘[Evidence] assumes that the Navy has effectively set the deck against even those exceptions, supported by the plaintiff’s immediate commanding officers and military chaplains, “said the three-judge panel.
While the percentage of vaccinated active staff in each service is 95 percent or more, the number of unvaccinated staff is close to 30,000
More than 1.62 million U.S. servicemen have been vaccinated, according to the Department of Defense
In November, dozens of seals from the US Navy said they had been wrongfully denied religious vaccination exemptions against COVID and that the Department of Defense’s mandate violated their rights under the First Amendment.
The military sued the Department of Defense, along with President Joe Biden and senior military officials.
The case, which lists 35 unnamed servicemen, claims the Pentagon is overstepping its borders as a federal body and violating their constitutional rights by requiring the Navy to be fully vaccinated by November 28, after being denied religious release.
In some cases, according to the lawsuit, the SEALS were reportedly threatened and in several cases harassed in order to comply with the request – and they were also flatly denied religious release.
According to the statement, the seals behind the lawsuit are Christians and oppose the mandate because it contradicts “their sincerely upheld religious beliefs.”
The plaintiffs include members of the naval seals and the crews of the warships for special military operations, a technician for the disposal of explosive munitions of the US Navy and divers of the US Navy, according to court documents.
They filed a lawsuit with the help of the First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based Christian legal group that regularly prosecutes religious freedom.
The Navy itself said earlier that it had not given an exception for any vaccine in the last seven years
The Army, the U.S. Army’s largest service with 478,000 troops, said it had the smallest number of troops seeking religious release – just over 1,700 troops – compared to the other three smaller services.
“World events remind us every day that there are people who seek to harm America. Our military should salute the military, not expel them for their religious beliefs, “said Mike Berry, director of military affairs at the First Liberty Institute, in a statement following Monday’s ruling.
“The cleansing of members of the religious service is not only detrimental to morals, but it harms America’s national security,” Berry added. “It is time for our military to abide by its constitutional obligations and provide religious accommodation to servicemen with sincere religious objections to the vaccine. We are grateful that the Fifth Chain rejected the request of the Navy.
Military branches and mandate for vaccine against COVID-19
US Army
Deadline: December 15
Vaccination rate: 97%
Dismissed members: 3300 threatened with dismissal
US Navy
Deadline: November 28
Vaccination rate: 97%
Members released: 45 as of last week
US Air Force
Deadline: November 2
Vaccination rate: 97.5%
Exempt members: 64, including members in basic training
US Coast Guard
Deadline: November 22
Percentage vaccinated: 95.3%, including partially vaccinated
Dismissed members: Unknown
Marines
Deadline: November 28
Percentage vaccinated: 96%, including partially vaccinated
Exempt members: 334
Sources: Individual Branches, Washington Post, US Naval Institute
Each military branch set a deadline after Defense Minister Lloyd Austin issued a note in August calling for all servicemen to be vaccinated.
While the percentage of vaccinated active staff in each service is 95 percent or more, the number of unvaccinated staff is close to 30,000.
The Army, the U.S. Army’s largest service with 478,000 troops, said it had the smallest number of soldiers seeking religious release – just over 1,700 troops – compared to the other three smaller services.
By comparison, there are more than 4,700 in the Air Force, 3,000 in the Marines and 2,700 in the Navy who want rare religious exceptions, according to data released by branches last week.
None of the requests has been approved yet.
On December 16, the Marines announced that they had fired 103 servicemen for not being vaccinated. The army said it had fired six people, including two commanders.
In January, U.S. District Judge Reid O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction stating that “there is no exception to COVID-19 from the First Amendment,” and that the pandemic did not give the government a license to revoke those freedoms. “.
O’Connor sided with the military, saying 29 of the 35 servicemen had been denied religious exceptions, calling the process a “theater”.
The Navy itself said earlier that it had not granted an exception for any vaccines in the last seven years.
“Religious exceptions to the vaccine requirement are virtually non-existent. “For the past seven years, the Navy has not granted religious exemption from the vaccine requirement,” O’Connor wrote.
The first dismissals from the military mandate against COVID-19 began in December.
The Marines fired 103 members and the army fired six, including two commanding officers.
The two army officers commanded active battalions.
Fleet Commander Lucian Kins, the executive officer of the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, became the first naval officer to be fired for refusing a vaccine in December.
He reportedly asked for religious exemption from the military’s vaccine requirement, but was refused and appealed the decision.
Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander. Jason Fischer declined to say why Kins was relieved of his command, citing privacy concerns.
However, he said the reason for the dismissal was that Anderson had lost confidence in Kins’ ability to perform his duties after failing to comply with a lawful order.