COVID discharges stopped
01-16-2023, 08:20 AM
#1
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COVID discharges stopped
Reinstatement and back pay potentially on the table:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...ndate-00077902
The Pentagon is considering providing back pay to former service members who were discharged for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, now that the mandate has been repealed, according to a spokesperson.
The Defense Department formally rescinded the mandate in a memo from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, after lawmakers directed the Pentagon to do so in the annual defense policy bill that passed into law in December. The military had already stopped discharging troops who refused the shot.
Austin’s memo directed that no service members will be separated solely on the basis of refusing to get the Covid-19 shot if they “sought an accommodation on religious, administrative or medical grounds,” and that the military will remove any “adverse actions,” including letters of reprimand, stemming from their refusal.
The Defense Department formally rescinded the mandate in a memo from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, after lawmakers directed the Pentagon to do so in the annual defense policy bill that passed into law in December. The military had already stopped discharging troops who refused the shot.
Austin’s memo directed that no service members will be separated solely on the basis of refusing to get the Covid-19 shot if they “sought an accommodation on religious, administrative or medical grounds,” and that the military will remove any “adverse actions,” including letters of reprimand, stemming from their refusal.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...ndate-00077902
02-19-2023, 08:25 AM
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02-19-2023, 01:12 PM
#4
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Originally Posted by Excargodog
02-19-2023, 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Hobbit64
Sort of an 'Oops, we were wrong' without saying they were wrong.
The problem is that once the order was given, the inviolability of following orders trumped common sense. It was apparent from the early COVID demographics in Italy and Spain that military age personnel were not at very serious risk for COVID, and already infected and recovered personnel were at an order of magnitude or two less than that. But it got tied up in politics and so you have it. Not the Pentagon’s finest decision certainly.
02-20-2023, 08:03 AM
#8
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Originally Posted by Excargodog
In an era when you are struggling to get people to enlist - or even accept a commission - perhaps not the wisest move.
The problem is that once the order was given, the inviolability of following orders trumped common sense. It was apparent from the early COVID demographics in Italy and Spain that military age personnel were not at very serious risk for COVID, and already infected and recovered personnel were at an order of magnitude or two less than that. But it got tied up in politics and so you have it. Not the Pentagon’s finest decision certainly.
The problem is that once the order was given, the inviolability of following orders trumped common sense. It was apparent from the early COVID demographics in Italy and Spain that military age personnel were not at very serious risk for COVID, and already infected and recovered personnel were at an order of magnitude or two less than that. But it got tied up in politics and so you have it. Not the Pentagon’s finest decision certainly.
02-20-2023, 08:44 AM
#10
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
As I've said countless times, it was not about safety for 19 y/o AD members, it was about *attempting* to get out from under restrictions to training which were imposed to prevent the AD from spreading covid like wildfire to civilian employees, contractors, dependents, and the community at large. They didn't want the mil to become a huge transmission vector. That was all based on the info they had at the time.
The NAVADMIN set firm deadlines for vaccination: Sailors on active duty were required to be vaccinated by 28 November 2021, while reservists were required to be compliant by 28 December 2021. The Navy’s definition of “fully vaccinated” required service members to be at least two weeks past their second shot (or two weeks past their vaccine date for a single-dose vaccine like Johnson & Johnson) by the deadline to be compliant with the NAVADMIN.
Commanders will request a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand be initiated for any Soldier who refuses to be vaccinated and does not have a pending or approved exemption request. Such reprimands can be career ending.
Active duty units are expected to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, 2021 and Reserve and National Guard units are expected to be fully vaccinated by June 30, 2022.
Active duty units are expected to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, 2021 and Reserve and National Guard units are expected to be fully vaccinated by June 30, 2022.
By July 4, 2021, 67% of the United States' adult population had received at least one dose, just short of a goal of 70%. This goal was eventually met on August 2, 2021.
And even before that - in Sept 2021 - we knew that immunization did NOT stop transmission in previously immunized people for very long:
Immunological studies have documented a steady decline of antibody levels among vaccinated individuals2. Long-term follow-up of vaccine trial participants has revealed a growing risk of breakthrough infection3. And health-care records from countries such as Israel, the United Kingdom and elsewhere all show that COVID-19 vaccines are losing their strength, at least when it comes to keeping a lid on transmissible disease.
Now I’m not anti vax. I said from the beginning that prudent adults - especially the elderly and those at high risk - would do better to have their first exposure to COVID 19 through an immunization rather than an infection - but by the time of the deadline, that whole “protect the civilian population” argument was water under the bridge. The majority of the civilian population was already immunized or had already had COVID - oftentimes both.
This wasn’t following the science, and it inflicted unnecessary and - I fear - long lasting damage on our ability to recruit and retain service members.
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