U.S. News
U.S. Army says soldiers who refuse COVID-19 vaccine could be dismissed [Video]
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The US Army said active-duty soldiers who will not be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by Dec. 15 could be suspended or dismissed.
- The Army Surgeon General said it’s “a matter of life and death for our Soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live.”
- Soldiers could request an exemption on valid medical, religious or administrative grounds.
U.S. Army soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 could be suspended from their duties and possibly discharged, the U.S. Army said on Tuesday.
Following the full authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in August by the Food and Drug Administration, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered that all active duty service members must get vaccinated.
The Army’s active units are expected to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, and its Reserve and National Guard units by June 30, 2022.
According to the Army, the implementation of this order started in late August. It noted that soldiers could request an exemption based on valid medical, religious, or administrative grounds.
In a statement, the Army said that high-ranking officials who refused to comply could face administrative or nonjudicial punishment. Commanders, command sergeants major, first sergeants, and officers in Command Select List positions who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccine and do not have an exemption request would be suspended and relieved.
“While soldiers who refuse the vaccine will first be counseled by their chain of command and medical providers, continued failure to comply could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment – to include relief of duties or discharge,” the Army said.
U.S. Army Surgeon General Raymond Scott Dingle said, “This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live,” referring to the current surge in coronavirus cases fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
As of this writing, the U.S. Department of Defense had reported more than 361,000 COVID-19 cases across its personnel and more than 470 deaths.
Source: Reuters
Oscar Virgil Pearson
September 17, 2021 at 11:08 am
The Army Surgeon General is an idiot, pure and simple. The shot doesn’t protect anyone.
Patrick R White
September 17, 2021 at 11:56 am
Go ahead and dismiss them and see how many more soldiers will follow them. When you see your number of troops diminish then you needn’t wonder why. I also bet your recruiting is down huh. Who believes in the numbers related to Covid cases when you have the socialist media doing the reporting
TLC
September 17, 2021 at 11:11 am
As of this writing, the U.S. Department of Defense had reported more than 361,000 COVID-19 cases across its personnel and more than 470 deaths. The DoD is very big and lots of civilian personnel. I wonder how many of these cases were active duty soldiers?
OLGYRENE
September 17, 2021 at 11:17 am
In other words the USA is no longer a nation where all citizens are free to make their own choices about their own health matters, even under the UCMJ a citizen was still afforded some personal freedoms. But apparently the current liberal, socialist, progressive, leftist democratic president and his entire administration is now in the process of negating any shred of individual freedoms from our military as well as the entirety of UD society. And to think the US seems to have a majority of citizens who are perfectly OK with being denied their rights guaranteed in the countries founding documents as well as by their creator in heaven, it truly is mind boggling that those who populate what was the only truly free country on the planet are now willing to have their entire nation and lives turned into exactly what G. Orwell described in his novel 1984 which was made into a movie about the total removal of individual rights!!!!
Richard
September 17, 2021 at 11:49 am
If you believe that you a bigger ass than he is. Moreover the military should mandate the vaccine or kick the non complaints out under a general, less than honorable discharge.
Willkey64
September 17, 2021 at 11:51 am
In the words of your favorite rapper/crapper F*** U
Patrick R White
September 17, 2021 at 12:09 pm
It’s the same woke Democrats and some Independents who thought putting Joe Biden in the White House was a good idea. Most knew his mental
facilities were lacking, most knew of his failure to produce any significant legislation in the 45 year span in Congress, most knew that he and his family were corrupt and their ties to China and Ukraine. But they didn’t like Trump’s tweets. They cared less of what President Trump accomplished for America while being hammered 24/7 from all directions by the Left during his entire period in the White House and more about what he said. What the Left shares with all Liberal Socialist Democrats is LACK OF COMMON SENSE.
Dave
September 17, 2021 at 3:04 pm
If this air-borne virus is so deadly, where are all the dead BIRDS !!!…small game etc:
Rather be dead then ruled by COMMUNIST with no freedoms !!
Wayne
September 17, 2021 at 4:22 pm
They took an oath to defend the constitution, not Biden medical edicts. For years the US Military has morphed into a humanitarian institution with commensurate loss of cohesion and fighting capability. Technology has put a veneer on the fatal deficiency because the enemies engaged for the past 20 years have been middle eastern throwbacks to the middle ages.
Yes–no doubt recruitment is down even below the levels prior to COVID. Most youth I’ve seen enter the military were already those with few options. With this, the military will be further effeminized and dumbed down–not in any way suitable for victory against advanced and organized opponents. The US military will be capable of mobilizing against its own citizens, but that’s about it.
DISGUSTED!!
September 21, 2021 at 12:17 pm
So, the Army Surgeon General said this: “This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live,”. Hmm. Is he also concerned about the Covid positive immigrants that are not treated or vaccinated and are being delivered, by our government, to “soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live”? This is another display of total hypocrisy in just another attempt to destroy our freedoms.
America stand firm!!