The U.S. Army on Wednesday began discharging soldiers who are refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine months after a mandate was first introduced, saying the move was critical to maintain combat readiness, news agency Reuters reports.
The Army’s order applies to regular Army soldiers, active-duty Army reservists and cadets unless they have approved or pending exemptions, according to the report.
“Army readiness depends on soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said. “Unvaccinated soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness.” The Pentagon made the vaccine mandatory for all service members in August 2021. Across all services, at least 79 uniformed military personnel have died from COVID. The Air Force recently started discharging unvaccinated members.
The discharge order is the latest from a U.S. military branch removing unvaccinated service members amiddthe pandemic afterrthe Pentagon made the vaccine mandatory for all service members in August 2021.
