Unvaccinated Military Members Still Facing Repercussions Despite Rescinded COVID-19 Mandate

Despite the Department of Defense rescinding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, unvaccinated military members are still facing repercussions, including denied benefits, ineligibility for promotion, being non-deployable, and potentially diminished employment prospects for those already discharged.

On Dec. 23, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $858 billion defense spending bill that included a measure repealing the mandate. On Dec. 29, the Defense Department followed suit, rescinding the mandate that has frayed military morale and resulted in the discharge of over 8,000 service members who refused the vaccine.

In rescinding the vaccine mandate, the DOD acknowledged the NDAA requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his Aug. 24, 2021 memo issuing the sweeping order.

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Coast Guard Illegally Denied Hundreds of Vaccine Exemptions, Attorneys Say

The U.S. Coast Guard’s alleged use of an automated system to deny religious waivers to as many as 1,231 servicemembers would be in violation of the law, attorneys told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday.

Leaders from each of the military branches, including the Coast Guard, are required to individually review vaccine exemption requests, legal experts who have worked on military vaccine exemption cases told the DCNF. An investigation by members of the House Oversight Committee found that the Coast Guard used a computer-based tool defaulted to issue mass denials of religious accommodations, Fox News first reported Tuesday, a practice that is in “clear” violation of federal law, attorneys said.

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