The Pentagon rescinded its order that all military personnel receive a coronavirus vaccine, a move that senior leaders opposed. The Defense Department will no longer discipline or remove service members for vaccine refusal, but will encourage immunization.
Military officials will no longer discipline or remove service members for vaccine refusal, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to the force, but the Defense Department will still encourage immunization against the virus and allow commanders latitude in deciding whether unvaccinated troops pose a risk to mission success.
Austin has described the shots, which had become a part of the battery of vaccinations that personnel are required to receive as a condition of their service, as key to keeping the military healthy and ready to fight. But the order became a political flash point even before its official announcement in 2021.
The $858 billion defense bill directs how federal dollars can be spent on the Pentagon, the military and related programs. It is considered must-pass legislation each year.The vast majority of the military’s 2.1 million service members rolled up their sleeves and received a coronavirus vaccine after it became mandatory, but more than 8,500 were forced out for refusing.
The memo said commanders will retain authority to “consider, as appropriate, the individual immunization status of personnel in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions.” The inability to deploy or a failure to meet expectations for other duties can have adverse career implications.
Still, some commanders have grown frustrated by the ordeal, saying the mandate was unambiguous and the ensuing political fallout within the ranks a major distraction that undermined order. Military analysts
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