November 20, 2022
According to Military.com, “The number of soldiers who have been separated from the Army due to refusing the COVID-19 vaccine has more than doubled from last month, according to new statistics released by the service on Friday.
The service has now discharged at least 742 active-duty soldiers for refusal, it said. On April 20, the total was 345”.
Military.com continues,” In addition to COVID-19, troops are mandated to receive more than a dozen other vaccines, including those against smallpox, hepatitis and the flu. However, troops are not required to get any COVID-19 booster shots. Right now, 97% of the active-duty Army is fully vaccinated.
In addition to the separations, 3,416 general officer reprimands have been given out to soldiers refusing the vaccine. The admonishments are largely seen as career killers in the military.
Soldiers can receive a religious or medical exemption from the vaccine, but those exceptions are exceedingly rare.
Only nine out of 4,428 religious exemption applications have been approved by the Army. It’s unclear how those nine soldiers made their case, and troops seeking a religious waiver may have a steep hill to climb if they didn’t take issue with any of the service’s other vaccine mandates”.
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