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I know, off the top of my head, the number in the Navy is somewhere near 4,100. COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Theyre usually willing to accept that and say, look, yeah, Im happy to. Mike Barry:No, I think what happens is they become much smaller cases, right? We are kicking out people by the thousands. Because how do you avoid getting to the point where anyone can deny or refuse any lawful order by claiming that they have a sincerely held religious belief that would be encumbered by it? Military service members have. At 1,038, the Marine Corps leads the military branches for the most separations. And really, the greatest harm here is not just to our members of the military who are suffering under this, but its actually to our nation. And in one instance, I saw one of the head people for recruiting in the military said, Were having a really hard time identifying, basically people who are eligible to serve in the military. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.). The Supreme Court ruled in March 2022 that the sea service was allowed to reassign sailors who had refused the shot and filed exemption requests to nonoperational commands. Jared Serbu: Yeah, theres a ton. Lt. Col. Edward Stapanon, a Catholic instructor pilot at the 435th Fighter Training Squadron in Texas, said he requested retirement twice but was turned down because he hasnt finished out an extension of his active duty service commitment that ends in 2024. He has criticized the Air Force for what he sees as a failure to carefully consider the merits of each exemption request and instead sweepingly reject them. And lets start by talking a bit about your clients, where they are in the Air Force vaccine exemption process and what led you to file the suit? And one of the reasons for that is if they if theyre between the ages of 17 and 23, and theyre not vaccinated, were not even willing to talk to them. And so theyre basically closing off an entire segment of society in a discriminatory manner. The service members sued this week to vacate a Pentagon vaccine mandate for all those in the military, arguing they face imminent harm if a court order isn't issued temporarily blocking the. Because they will not compromise these religious beliefs, Plaintiffs have been threatened with separation from the military and other disciplinary action. Lawyers are waiting to see if a federal court in Georgia will stop the vaccine mandate nationwide through another class-action preliminary injunction as well. Quite the contrary, they view life whether their own or that of their fellow servicemembers as sacred and deserving protection.. . 2:14:14 Pentagon exploring back pay for troops kicked out of military over vaccine mandate. All rights reserved. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited,Judge Reed OConnor said. In his order, OConnor granted an injunction against the Biden administration and the Department of Defense, preventing them from enforcing the vaccine mandate against any of the named service members who had applied for a religious exemption. Jared Serbu: Mike, thanks for being here. The Navy SEALS filed their lawsuit in November of 2021, describing what they saw as a cumbersome 50-step process to obtain religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine. And in fact, he said, the exemption process is fraught in and of itself. Feb. 23, 2023. Jared Serbu: Got it. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the militarys process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. The Texas lawsuit argues that the Navy Department is blanketly denying all religious requests, making the process a sham. That leaves around 14,400 airmen and guardians less protected in the COVID-19 pandemics third year. Overall, scientific evidence indicates that the benefits of vaccines largely . Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md. Are there major differences here? Essentially, while the Marines applied for exemptions on religious grounds, they were already entitled to a much more straightforward administrative exemption for troops soon to leave service or not currently with their units, which is likely the reason they were approved. The Florida case also expands the arguments past the religious exemption process, citing a handful of other arguments made by COVID-19 vaccine detractors. Until any harm is remedied, according to Bruns, the case is still active. Commercial airlines has said, you know what, were gonna lift the mask mandate. And so all of them have requested religious accommodations from the vaccine mandate, which is, of course, something that DoD regulations and even federal law, clearly permit and allow. Hes one of the attorneys representing the airmen challenging the mandate, and he spoke more to Jared Serbu on theFederal Drive with Tom Temin. Were going from a 50-step process to a zero-step process? Duncan asked. And both lawsuits include arguments that the plaintiffs prayed on the issue and came to the conclusion that vaccination would violate their principles. Both cases are in a wait-and-see phase, where judges have granted injunctions against any discipline for vaccine refusal while the government responds to requests for information. Troops who refuse mandatory COVID-19 vaccines will likely also face courts-martial for the same offense, said Zaid, who represented Task & Purpose in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force . Each week, Defense Reporter Jared Serbu speaks with the managers of the federal government's largest department. Telling Plaintiffs they must accept or receive a shot they oppose according to their sincerely held religious beliefs, or face court martial, dishonorable discharge, and other life altering disciplinary measures, disgraces the sacrifices these heroes have made, according to the lawsuit. So I think that if one of these cases does end up in front of the Supreme Court, it will probably be addressed just on the narrow vaccine issue. I think that a process that is not a sham looks a little bit something like the military regardless of what branch were talking about, takes an honest look and says okay, what is this persons job or their function? The lawyers for the biggest lawsuit against the service said that, after the Navy's policy change on deployment, they were "still assessing the impact of this policy on our Navy SEAL clients and more than 4000 class members," according to a statement released Thursday night. The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. "There are no current COVID-19 vaccine restrictions on deployments or assignments for the Marine Corps as a service," Capt. And our clients are, theyre stationed in various locations, quite a few of them are here in Texas. In the Navy, none of more than 4,000 religious exemptions had been approved, but there were about 252 temporary and 11 permanent medical exemptions. And, in fact, the Department of Defense allows medical exemptions and administrative exemptions from the vaccine. [Many] didnt even know that there was a religious exemption option, because they had never been informed of it, Staver said. "Marines will defer to Combatant Command policies regarding deployments.". The government has recently ordered imminent punitive action against those men and women of faith who cannot in good conscience take these experimental vaccines, and this order stops the government in its tracks, Adam Hochschild, a lawyer with the Thomas More Society and lead counsel in Air Force Officer v. Austin, said in a release. They are, theyre ignoring the law, theyre ignoring the Constitution. The Marine Corps confirmed to a California congressman that two of those Marines were preparing to leave the service, while another one is doing a Training With Industry assignment. A federal court in Ohio on Thursday blocked the Air Force from enforcing the militarys coronavirus vaccine mandate for two weeks, a short-term win for airmen fighting multiple legal battles against inoculation. Top Pentagon officials do not plan to alter their current "lawful orders" requiring the coronavirus shots for troops, unless they are granted waivers for medical or religious purposes, the. Fox News U.S. The problem here is that the government is simply unwilling to offer any compromises. The US military has approved religious exemptions to its Covid-19 vaccine mandate for 15 service members out of approximately 16,000 requests, according to the latest data from the services. They dont offer what are, in the legal speak, we call advisory opinions. Staver, the attorney for the Florida plaintiffs, said his clients have shared their exemption rejection letters, which do not detail specifically why their requests werent approved. The latest class action targets the Air Forces religious accommodation process, arguing that process is set up in such a way that getting a religious exemption to the vaccine is almost impossible. The number of exemptions has fluctuated over the last several months as some people decided to get the shots or leave the service instead of seeking accommodation. In the filing, attorneys argue that the plaintiffs are facing criminal conviction and dishonorable discharge, which would strip them of any veterans benefits. Because of those peoples religious beliefs and religious convictions. And yet they say, you know what, we now believe that its okay, for our employees to not be vaccinated, its okay for our customers to not be vaccinated. Our military, I mean, you can open any news feed that you want. For the Texas case, its more likely those sailors will receive religious exemptions, but that they wont necessarily change the way the military mandates vaccines or reviews exemptions. Theres been a lot of great saints that have gone to prison, so Im willing to do that.. CBC News reached out multiple times to Galati, who is listed as the spokesperson for the lawsuit in a press release issued by Vaccine Choice Canada. As of Tuesday, the Air Force had denied about 6,800 initial religious waiver requests and 3,600 appeals, and has not ruled on nearly 3,500 more cases. If the court certifies the class does the class become all unvaccinated airmen or everyone whos been denied a religious exemption? Their objections to the vaccine fall into one of four categories, according to their complaint, including opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in pharmaceutical development, belief that body modification violates their religious principles, direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine, or declining to inject trace amounts of animal cells into ones body.. And I havent heard of a single Starbucks shutting down. As part of the exemption process, service members are required to meet with a chaplain to work through their concerns. Here, Plaintiffs must decide whether to lose their livelihoods or violate sincerely held religious beliefs. The military across the board is discriminating discriminating against people of faith. Theyre not following their own regulations. Im happy to take that one from you. More than 8,400 troops were forced out of the military for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. On Jan. 7,the Supreme Court is set to hear oral argumentsin a set of high-profile, consolidated cases on the Biden administrations vaccine mandates for private-sector entities with 100 or more employees, and for health care facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funding. Mike Barry:Well, I mean, thats the beauty of the way that the law works, right? The Pentagon has not provided any public updates or said when the formal policy will be issued. The "rule" and the ways it will be fought 1:43:40 How to fight the NFA and its unconstitutional rule about barrel lengths. The lawsuit is one of two that have grabbed headlines in recent months, as the military has imposed mandatory vaccination deadlines that have since lapsed for all of the services and their components, save the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. All of the military services are currently reworking their policies to adjust separation and promotion records for service members who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, after the Pentagon ended the inoculation mandate last month. Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . The chief of Irans nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, acknowledged the findings of the IAEA report. Any sailors who submitted a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine can continue in the Navy under the injunction, according to NAVADMIN 102/22. And well be back week after week.. The World Health Organization approved Covaxin for emergency use in late 2021, making it a viable option for airmen who object to the three main U.S. shots. They argue that their 1st Amendment rights are being infringed upon, because their sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Well, what if somebodys not really sincere? "This vaccine mandate is unlawful and does not reflect the Land of the Free," said General O'Connor. According to the First Liberty Institute, the public interest law firm representing the service members, each of the denials appeared to be identical, suggesting the Navy had not taken any of the religious exemption requests seriously. Its really the same thing in the military context with this vaccine, where theyre saying, Look, teleworking or, doing a lot of these other measures, right, social distancing, masking, testing, whatever the case might be. By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square) Military leaders will testify on Tuesday before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee about the impact of the Department of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on DOD employees and military service members. The Florida case began with a Navy and Marine Corps officer in 2021, but has soon ballooned to 36 plaintiffs from all military branches as well as some civilian Defense Department employees. This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal. AFLDS has also pushed ivermectin and. Other plaintiffs focus not on the abortion issue, but on several Bible passages that refer to the body as a temple. Plaintiffs sincerely held religious beliefs that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that they are to glorify God with their bodies lays the foundation for everything they do, consume, or inject into their bodies, according to the Florida lawsuit. And the way that they are accomplishing their compelling interest is the least restrictive means on the persons religious beliefs. So if they work Sunday afternoon, or if theyre scheduled to work a particular Sunday afternoon, they say, Well, Im a Sabbath observer on Sundays. Ho and Judge Kyle Duncan noted that the administration had only reluctantly ended the military mandate after December congressional action, but Ross assured the panel that there are no plans to bring back the requirement. That means that this is quickly becoming a national security concern. Complainants push back on the militarys position that remaining unvaccinated endangers the force and undermines national security, since the vast majority of troops have received all of a one- or two-shot regimen. Each of those shots also involves cell tissue derived from fetuses, as does one version of the rabies vaccine. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Monday blocking the Defense Department from taking action against a group of 35 Navy sailors who had refused to get a coronavirus vaccine,. The Air Force has approved 135 religious exemption requests out of thousands submitted so far. A vaccine lawsuit is filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, instead of regular state or federal courts like other drug injury claims. Our lawsuit is certainly centered on religious exemption, but our lawsuit is broader than that to block the mandate in general of a non-FDA approved product, Staver said. Kevin Stitt with Fox News ads Copyright 2023 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. VICP provides compensation for injuries and deaths caused by Just because of the just incredibly political nature of, of all of it, from the virus to the vaccine to the mandates, Marshall Griffin, a retired Coast Guard judge advocate who now practices privately, told Military Times on Monday. Two staff sergeants, one Army, one Marine, have filed a lawsuit against three federal agencies, challenging plans to conduct mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations of military troops. OConnormade note of thisin his order, calling the process for seeking a religious exemption nothing more than theater, stating that the Navy merely rubber-stamps each denial, and stressing that the record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Navys religious-accommodation process is an exercise in futility.. The prospect of dishonorable discharges has been a concern for some against vaccine mandates, but that type of discharge can only be handed down through a court-martial conviction. Is there any assurance on the record, that there will be no deployment decisions based on vaccination? Judge James Ho, one of three judges hearing the case asked Department of Justice lawyer Casen Ross. Ross said such questions were speculative and not at issue in the case before the court. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . They have similar objections to their Texas counterparts, from opposition to abortion to concerns about modifying their bodies. The World Health Organization approved Covaxin for emergency use in late 2021, making it a viable option for airmen who object to the three main U.S. shots. Adam Rawnsley. They argue that their. The military's COVID-19 vaccine was repealed after the National Defense Authorization Act passed and was signed into law this month. Additionally, "promotion records will be corrected by the [Department of the Air Force] who will remove or redact all adverse actions related to vaccine refusal," according to a Friday press release. Vaccine refusers often state that the use of fetal cell lines in the creation of the shots conflicts with their views on abortion.