US soldiers who refuse to get a Covid-19 vaccine will be immediately discharged, the US army said on Wednesday, saying the move was critical to maintain combat readiness.
The army’s order applies to regular army soldiers, active-duty army reservists and cadets unless they have approved or pending exemptions, it said in a statement.
The discharge order is the latest from a US military branch removing unvaccinated service members amid the pandemic after the Pentagon made the vaccine mandatory for all service members in August 2021.
The vast majority of all active-duty troops have received at least one dose. Roughly 79 uniformed military personnel across the different services have died from Covid-19.
“Army readiness depends on soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” the army secretary, Christine Wormuth, said. “Unvaccinated soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness.”
“We will begin involuntary separation proceedings for soldiers who refuse the vaccine order and are not pending a final decision on an exemption,” she added.
Army commanders have been asked to “process these separation actions as expeditiously as possible”, the statement added.
Soldiers who refuse the vaccine and are discharged will be “issued either an Honorable or General (under honorable conditions) characterization of service unless additional misconduct warrants separation with an Other than Honorable characterization of service”.
Unvaccinated soldiers who have submitted requests for medical exemptions or religious accommodations are currently temporarily exempt from the vaccine as their requests remain under review.
The army said out of the 709 permanent medical exemption requests submitted, only six have been approved while 656 have been rejected. Additionally, 2,910 claims of permanent religious exemptions have been submitted, with 266 being rejected and none being approved as of 26 January.
As of 26 January, army commanders had issued over 3,000 written reprimands to soldiers who refused the vaccination order, as well as relieved six regular army leaders, including two battalion commanders.
Other branches of the US military, including the US air force, have already begun to remove those who have chosen not to receive a Covid vaccine, which were first authorized for emergency use in December 2020.
Reuters contributed to this report