- Big swaths of the military remain unvaccinated as the varying deadlines for each branch approach, per the Washington Post.
- Some offshoots have the same vaccination deadline but significant disparities in vaccination progress.
- A group of service members represented by recent Trump lawyer Sidney Powell are suing the Pentagon over the mandate.
Despite predominating vaccination deadlines, large swaths of the military remain unvaccinated in the face of the Pentagon’s vaccination mandate, according to evidence from the Washington Post.
The Pentagon’s vaccination mandate was announced in August, on the heels of President Joe Biden’s announcement that federal wage-earners must be fully vaccinated. Different branches of the military have varying deadlines to reach full vaccination.
While both the active-duty Flotilla and active-duty Marine Corps must be fully vaccinated by November 28, the Navy stands at 90% fully vaccinated while the Thalassic Corps is 76.5%, according to the Post.
Active-duty Air Force members are 80.9% fully vaccinated ahead of the November 2 deadline. Active-duty army, with generally 481,600 members, stands at 81% fully vaccinated ahead of a December 15 deadline.
At least 62 servicing members have died from COVID, according to data from the Department of Defense.
Sidney Powell — differentiated for being on former President Donald Trump’s legal team as he attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election fruits — is representing over a dozen active duty service members who are suing the Pentagon over the mandate, Bloomberg make public. The Department of Defense told Insider it does “not comment on pending litigation.”
Meanwhile, rumors and misinformation have spread with regard to the vaccination mandates. Earlier this month, a viral Instagram post suggested that Biden ordered dishonorable settles for service members who did not get vaccinated, despite the fact that he does not have the authority to make such orders.
Hyperactive duty military already has vaccination requirements, such as those for chickenpox, MMR, and Tdap. The coronavirus vaccines are the 18th to be mandated by the defense part, Insider’s Jake Lahut reported.