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Religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines to be determined by branch
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a press briefing on Tuesday that religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccinations for service members will be determined by the branch they are affiliated with.
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a press briefing on Tuesday that religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccinations for service members will be determined by the branch they are affiliated with.
Kirby elaborated on this by saying, “There is a religious exemption possibility for any mandatory vaccine, and there’s a process that we go through to counsel the individual both from a medical and from a command perspective about using a religious exemption.”
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The counseling mentioned here entails a discussion with a medical professional and a commander about the risks of not being vaccinated. They are also supposed to speak on how not being vaccinated may affect assignments, deployability, and travel.
The clarification is topped off by Kirby’s reassurance, that “We take freedom of religion and worship seriously, in the military it’s one of the things that we sign up to defend, and so it’s something that’s done very carefully.”
Following this, Kirby stated, “We have every expectation that once the vaccines are made mandatory, the troops are going to … do the right thing.”
Some skeptics have stated they believe that some service members will apply for religious exemptions when they might not have otherwise. These claims hinge on the disparate treatment that unvaccinated service members have received following not getting the voluntary vaccine.
