{"id":74484,"date":"2023-02-17T19:45:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T19:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/17\/navy-eliminates-covid-19-vaccination-requirement-for-deployment\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:57:51","slug":"navy-eliminates-covid-19-vaccination-requirement-for-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2023\/02\/17\/navy-eliminates-covid-19-vaccination-requirement-for-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy eliminates COVID-19 vaccination requirement for deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sailors unvaccinated against COVID-19 may deploy again under a new policy rescinding requirements that sailors assigned to operational units be fully vaccinated against the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy\u2019s guidance comes roughly a month after the service announced it would halt separating sailors<\/a> who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, in accordance with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin\u2019s instruction<\/a> in January overturning his 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Even so, unvaccinated troops were still barred from certain assignments and deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, vaccination status will not be a factor when considering sailors for deployments or operational missions, according to a new naval administrative message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder no circumstances shall a Commander mandate that any Navy Service member receive the COVID-19 vaccination,\u201d the new NAVADMIN said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommanders should seek advice from medical providers regarding medical readiness of personnel to inform deployment and other operational mission decisions,\u201d the NAVADMIN said. \u201cCOVID-19 vaccination status shall not be a consideration in assessing individual service member suitability for deployment or other operational missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new guidance does place some limitations on sailors during port visits, though, due to host nation policies. It instructs combatant commanders to coordinate with country teams and local authorities to determine restrictions that could \u201ccreate conditions-based criteria for liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters at the West naval conference in San Diego Thursday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said the Navy will continue to monitor COVID levels around fleet concentration areas going forward as unvaccinated members return to the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParticularly, if there\u2019s a new strain of COVID, we want to make sure we have enough of the supplies on board, like masks and those kinds of things, so if we have to revert back to the way we were doing things before the vaccine, that we\u2019re able to do that fairly quickly,\u201d Gilday said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro warned lawmakers in December that rescinding the COVID vaccine mandate would create two classes of sailors \u2014 those who can and can\u2019t deploy \u2014 Gilday said Thursday that the Navy policy change is consistent with the law and that the service was not, in his view, creating a distinction between the two groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\t