These Republicans Voted Towards Reinstating Army Members Discharged for Refusing to Get Vaccinated

4 Republican senators voted Thursday in opposition to reinstating army members who had been discharged for refusing to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.

Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, and Susan Collins of Maine voted in opposition to Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s modification that may have reinstated and supplied backpay to army members discharged for refusing to get vaccinated.

Johnson sought to amend the 2023 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act, which handed the Senate, 83-11, Thursday evening. Although this modification failed, Republicans had been in a position to embody a provision within the NDAA that halts the Division of Protection from forcing service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“These had been direct orders from commanding officers,” Cassidy stated in an announcement to The Every day Sign on the vaccine mandate. “I voted to finish the COVID vaccine mandate within the army however it isn’t Congress’s place to intervene within the chain of command and set a precedent for army personnel to disregard direct orders.”

The opposite senators didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from The Every day Sign.

Many service members have requested non secular exemptions to the vaccine: 9,068 members of the Military, 4,309 members of the Navy, 1,350 members of the Coast Guard, 3,740 members of the Marines, and roughly 11,000 members of the Air Drive requested non secular exemptions, The Every day Sign has realized.

The army granted only a few of those exemption requests: 123 to members of the Military, 65 to members of the Navy, 12 to members of the Coast Guard, 23 to members of Marines, and roughly 200 to members of the Air Drive.

In complete, 8,424 army members have been discharged, the Division of Protection confirmed to The Every day Sign on Thursday: 1,841 within the Military, 3,717 within the Marines, 1,631 energetic within the Navy and 401 within the Navy Reserve, and 834 within the Air Drive.

The Every day Sign beforehand shared quite a lot of tales about army members discharged for refusing to be vaccinated.

“There’s one phrase that sums up what has been perpetrated in opposition to the great women and men who merely reserved their rights afforded to them by the Structure,” Air Drive member Brian Saunders informed The Every day Sign. “Betrayal.”

Have an opinion about this text? To pontificate, please electronic mail [email protected] and we’ll think about publishing your edited remarks in our common “We Hear You” characteristic. Keep in mind to incorporate the url or headline of the article plus your identify and city and/or state.