{"id":23943,"date":"2021-12-16T16:56:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T16:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/12\/16\/army-vax-deadline-2-battalion-commanders-relieved-discharges-begin-january-98-comply\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:22:02","slug":"army-vax-deadline-2-battalion-commanders-relieved-discharges-begin-january-98-comply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/12\/16\/army-vax-deadline-2-battalion-commanders-relieved-discharges-begin-january-98-comply\/","title":{"rendered":"Army vax deadline: 2 battalion commanders relieved, discharges begin January, 98% comply"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army\u2019s deadline for active duty troops to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/12\/15\/military-covid-19-deaths-on-upswing-as-vaccination-deadlines-pass\/\" target=\"_blank\">vaccinated against COVID-19<\/a> passed Wednesday, and Army officials offered a snapshot of the service\u2019s data and next steps in a Thursday morning release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vast majority of the Army\u2019s approximately 485,900 active duty soldiers have complied with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/12\/15\/5-more-states-challenge-pentagons-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-guardsmen\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pentagon\u2019s vaccine requirement<\/a>, the release said \u2014 96% of troops are fully vaccinated, and an additional 2% have received at least one dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only 3,864 soldiers have \u201crefused the vaccination order without a pending or approved exemption,\u201d the release said. That includes two battalion commanders and an additional four \u201cleaders\u201d who have been relieved, but the release didn\u2019t specify the rank or echelon of the latter four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January, commanders will begin involuntarily discharging soldiers who have refused the shot. Most of them \u2014 2,767 \u2014 have already received a general officer memorandum of reprimand, an adverse administrative action that could end their careers even if they now opt to get the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/09\/14\/armys-plan-for-mandatory-covid-19-vaccines-is-here\/\" target=\"_blank\">reported in September<\/a> that the service was planning to discharge those who refused the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a provision in the fiscal 2022 defense bill, which was passed by the Senate Wednesday and now awaits President Joe Biden\u2019s signature, troops discharged solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine will receive either an honorable or general discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThank you to the medical staff who have been supporting the pandemic response at home and to the vaccinated Soldiers who put the health and welfare of their fellow Soldiers and families first,\u201d said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in the release. \u201cTo those who continue to refuse the vaccine and are not pending a final decision on a medical or administrative exemption, I strongly encourage you to get the vaccine. If not, we will begin involuntary separation proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Exemptions and accommodations<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As of Dec. 16, the Army has approved thousands of temporary medical and administrative exemptions, but virtually no permanent medical exemptions or religious accommodations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 6,200 active duty soldiers have temporary administrative or medical exemptions from getting the shot, including some troops who have pending permanent exemption requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only four active duty soldiers have received permanent medical exemptions to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service is moving slowly on religious accommodation requests. Out of the 1,746 active duty troops who requested accommodation, none have received approval, and only 85 have been denied, according to the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But even if all exemptions are denied, and all troops who requested exemptions leave the Army, the doomsday scenario predicted by some critics of the Defense Department\u2019s mandatory vaccination campaign won\u2019t come to fruition \u2014 only two percent of the active duty force would face discharge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only four active duty soldiers have received permanent medical exemptions to 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Army vax deadline: 2 battalion commanders relieved, discharges begin January, 98% comply - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only four active duty soldiers have received permanent medical exemptions to date.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Army vax deadline: 2 battalion commanders relieved, discharges begin January, 98% comply\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only four active duty soldiers have received permanent medical exemptions to date.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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