Congress Set to End COVID Vaccine Mandate for Military
Of course, the Biden administration is slamming the move.
Congress is set to end the covid vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military through the passage of the annual defense bill heading for a vote this week in Congress.
Republicans, emboldened by their new House majority next year, pushed the effort, which was confirmed Tuesday night when the bill was unveiled. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy personally lobbied President Joe Biden in a meeting last week to roll back the mandate.
Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said the removal of the vaccination requirement was essential for the defense policy bill to move forward.
“We have real recruitment and retention problems across all services. This was gas on the fire exacerbating our existing problem,” Rogers said. “And the president said, you know, the pandemic is over. It’s time for us to recognize that and remove this unnecessary policy.”
Of course, the Biden administration is slamming the move.
President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and military leaders have strongly backed the vaccine mandate as necessary to safeguard the health and readiness of the U.S. armed forces.
“We continue to believe that repealing the vaccine mandate is a mistake,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“Republicans in Congress have obviously decided that they’d rather fight against the health and well being of those troops, rather than protecting them,” Kirby added.
There are many reasons to support the move, not the least of which is that the vaccines neither stop the transmission of the virus nor prevent anyone from catching covid in many of its assorted variants. People should be allowed to make a personal choice in whether the risks of vaccination outweigh the risks of infection.
Furthermore, there has been a sharp decline in recruitment, and the vaccine mandate cannot be helping.
The US military is facing the greatest recruiting challenge in almost half a century, since the inception of the volunteer service, Pentagon leaders are warning Congress.
“The Department anticipates we will collectively miss our recruiting mission despite accessing more than 170,000 remarkable young men and women” in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, Stephanie Miller, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy, said Wednesday in prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee. “This constitutes an unprecedented mission gap and is reason for concern.”
While all the military services struggle to attract new recruits, the Army’s hurdles in particular paint a troubling picture for Pentagon leaders. Despite reducing its recruiting goals, the largest military service is falling more than 10,000 soldiers short this year, and is projecting a gap of at least 21,000 active-duty troops in 2023.
One Marine Corps commander confirms that the vaccine mandate has been detrimental to recruitment efforts.
Speaking during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger defended the vaccine mandate as a necessity for keeping the force healthy. But he indicated the mandate has posed problems for recruiting in pockets of the United States where vaccine misinformation is prevalent.
“Where it is having an impact for sure is on recruiting, where in parts of the country there’s still myths and misbeliefs about the back story behind it,” Berger said.
Here is hoping this is just one of many Biden administration policies that get rescinded, ended, and reversed.
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Comments
This is a good start by the next Congress. What more concerns me is the stuff the next Congress will roll over on???
Yeah, Congress finally acted, after the damage is well and truly done.
Those highly and expensively trained motivated and patriotic service members who got the boot aren’t coming back, and God save us from the type of recruit that woke crap will attract.
Those that got vaxed have been damaged. Subacute myocarditis and restrictive pericarditis.
The mandates were illegal to begin with. John Doe vs Rumsfeld 2003 still stands concerning mandating experimental biologic products.
Vaccination wise, Congress is looking out for those who defend the land of the Griners and the home of the Warnocks.
A little late..damage done. Wasn’t that the goal?
Just like anthrax shot was. That’s why I am 100% P&T through the VA and the main reason why I never got the covid jab, these fools will destroy your health and body and they don’t care.
While I suspect that many of the men and women who were discharged over this will say ‘no’, are there plans to offer them reinstatement at their former rank and privileges?
Its pretty well known at this point that the vax is not nearly as effective as advertised.
Additional Information is now emerging that the studies / data used to show the vax is more effective that being unvaxed are using understated denominators in the computation. After correcting for the invalid demoninators, the actual benefit of being vaxed in likely less than 20% (and then for only 4-6 months)
Mandating the Vax while legally insulating the pharmaceutical companies against any legal fallout – never should have happened.
Leslie, you nailed it. The fundamental problem with the vaccine mandate is the quality of the product being forced on our military. My Dad was in the military, and when the family went overseas, we had to a lot of vaccinations, and we did. We had no ill effects.
The mRNA and DNA gene therapies, however, have been linked to harm to the receivers, particularly among, but not limited to, athletic men of military age.
Instead of dealing with the problem, this administration has chosen to abuse its power by pressing our social media and news media to sniffle discussion of the subject. These actions make me think the worst of the Biden administration, the CDC, NIH, and the FBI, not to mention the WaPo, NYT and assorted blithering idiots on TV.
1) We have continuing resolutions a lot more than appropriations bills. What are the odds that this will not end up a continuing resolution without the Covid vaccination halt?
2) The vote is this week. As in before there is even technically a Republican majority in the House. What are the odds that with the usual designated turncoats that this will not be removed?
3) Since the election a month ago finally had what passes for a vote count, the Republicans have been in the position of where it would improve their tactical position to stall and just wait for the new Congress to be seated with the House majority. Instead of doing that, the Republicans in the House have been rushing to pass Democrat positions on immigration, education, churches, etc. What are the odds that they will not extend this to the defense bill?
4) None of your discussion mentions the Senate which in whichever session is going to be able to take this provision out, and it suffers from the same turncoat problem.
I will believe it AFTER I see it, and after I see the regime following the law if it passes.
Subotai Bahadur
You have to be really dumb, or a bit crazy to join the US military, given how dumb and crazy the people now running it are.