A Small Faction In Defence Refused Getting Vaccinated

New data which has been acquired shows that a very small fraction in defense is refusing to get vaccinated. The faction amount for less than 0.3% of the total 3,26,000 personals from the Air Force which first refused to get vaccinated. The deadline for armed forces to get vaccinated was 2^nd Nov which has been lapsed. 

This small faction now stands in the way of getting discharged as they are disobeying the mandate set by the Biden administration. Overall, 10.352 people consisting of the Space Force and Air Force have refused the vaccination.

A Small Faction In Defence Refused Getting Vaccinated

Among the roughly 1600 personals have medical exemptions which they have requested. Another 232 people were given administrative exemption as they are about to get retired in the coming months and this mandate doesn’t apply to them as well.

Around 2800 people have not yet started the process of vaccine and no comments have been received on them so far. It has to be assumed that among these people some are deployed to areas where they are not able to get the Pfizer vaccine. US military has only approved Pfizer for all of their personals currently.

Some of the people might have not gotten the vaccine as their superiors might not have followed up the chain for their subordinates.

A majority of around 5000 people have requested exemption of the vaccines based on their religious views and their beliefs. Air Force did not give us a direct breakdown of these numbers are these requests are being reviewed by the system. Many sources say that personals are exploiting the system by giving false information for supporting their cause.

The main issue with the religious exemption is that it takes 30 days for the request to be reviewed fully. And once reviewed the applicant can also lodge an appeal which would take another 30 days to be reviewed. It has been noted that so far, no religious exemption has been granted by the Air Force and many of the requests are still in the review process.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for personals whose requests have not been accepted will be facing severe punishment if they do not get vaccinated. Many personals could also be discharged under the same as violating a direct order from Commander in Chief.

Ann Stefanek the Airforce spokeswoman stated that Air Force personals need to get vaccinated as this is the only way to safeguard our country against the virus and to break the virus chain as well. 

It has been observed that the US Navy has 99% of their people vaccinated while the Air Force stays at 97%. The Marine Corps ‘ overall vaccination rate is 93% while that of the Army is still at 90%. This data was provided by the Pentagon earlier this week.

The next deadline set for all defense personals set is Nov 22 which also includes contractors who work for the government. Biden administration has said that strict actions will be taken against defense personals if they fail to comply with this request. 

Many of the people are trying to use the religious exemption and has gained more request. However, many of the religious leaders have come forward and have urged their supporters to take the vaccine stating that the vaccine is not violating any of their norms and is perfectly safe as well.

This instills a lot of confidence among the people and the government is seeing more people come in for vaccination as well. Biden administration has thanked all the religious leaders who are supporting the vaccination drive as this makes it easy for the government.