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COVID-19 UPDATES

Navy Discharges First Group of Sailors for

Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

By Yvette Purtill
The Navy announced on Wednesday, January 6, 2022,
that 20 sailors who refused to get vaccinated have been
removed from service. According to the Navy, these
20 sailors are the first the service has separated due to
COVID-19 vaccine refusals.

This group of 20 sailors were just completing the initial
training. The service removed them using entry-level sep-
arations, within their first 180 days of active duty at the
time of separation. The Navy commanders were ordered
on Dec. 15, 2021 to start the process of separation for
sailors who declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

As of January 5, 2022, the Navy indicated that a total of
5,268 active duty and 2,980 Navy Reserve sailors remain
unvaccinated. The service has so far approved eight per-
manent medical exemptions, 242 temporary medical NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan (Sept. 8, 2021) Hospital
exemptions and 74 administrative exemptions for active Corpsman 2nd Class James Owen, from Tobyhanna, Pa., administers
duty sailors. the Pfizer vaccine to a Sailor onboard Naval Air Facility Atsugi Sept.
8, 2021. COVID-19 vaccination is now mandatory for Active Duty and
Among those who requested exemptions in the Navy Ready Reserve Department of Defense service members who are
not medically or administratively exempt. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass
Reserve, the service has approved nine temporary med- Communication Specialist 3rd Class Rafael Avelar) Photo by: Petty
ical exemptions and 31 administrative exemptions. It is Officer 3rd Class Rafael Avelar
recorded that more than 3,000 active duty sailors have
requested religious exemption from receiving the vaccine,
along with 691 Navy Reserve sailors. But no religious
exemptions have been approved yet.

The Navy’s mandate began at the end of August of
2021, after the release of the Secretary of Defense memo
instructing military departments to enact the new vacci-
nation requirements. All DoD uniformed personnel who
are not medically or administratively exempt were given
90 days to comply.

Nearly 5 percent of the Coast Guard’s active-duty person-
nel was unvaccinated as the service closed out the year.
Approximately 94.4 percent of the active-duty workforce
was fully vaccinated, while 95.3 percent had received the
first shot of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, as
of Dec. 27, Lt. Sondra-Kay Kneen, a spokesperson for the ForceCOM Vaccinations; US Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer
Coast Guard, told USNI News in an email. Second Class Shannon Keamey.

The Naval Enlisted Reserve Association 17