The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), it doesnt, the sincerity issue is what everybody seems to be concerned with, right? More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the militarys process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. When they inquired about seeking religious accommodation for the vaccine, the Navy informed many of them that they could face court-martial or involuntary separation if they refused to take the vaccine. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. Editors note: This story has been updated with information from the hearing. Given the prevailing public health guidelines and the state of the virus, there is currently no intention to require universal vaccination of all service members, Ross said. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in the press release that the service is still, however, encouraging vaccinations. Starbucks, for example, doesnt have a vaccine requirement. And really, the greatest harm here is not just to our members of the military who are suffering under this, but its actually to our nation. The quickest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. In January of last year, a federal judge in Texas barred the Navy from taking any action against the Navy plaintiffs for being unvaccinated. Punishing SEALs for simply asking for a religious accommodation is purely vindictive and punitive. Here, Plaintiffs must decide whether to lose their livelihoods or violate sincerely held religious beliefs. Right? Through much prayer and reflection, Plaintiffs have sought wisdom, understanding, and guidance on the proper decisions to make concerning these COVID-19 vaccines, and Plaintiffs have been convicted by the Holy Spirit that accepting any of the three currently available vaccines is against the teachings of Scripture and would be a sin, according to a Florida lawsuit first filed in late 2021, then amended on Feb. 7 with additional plaintiffs. The vaccine mandate for military personnel was put in place in August, with a deadline of Sept. 15. The government burdens religion when it put[s] substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs.. Are there major differences here? Im willing to go through that. And usually when somebody is willing to go through those measures, that demonstrates a degree of sincerity. The Army also announced in a Friday press release that ongoing reviews of COVID vaccine exemption requests, records of soldiers who requested COVID vaccine exemptions, vaccine requirements for accessions or pre-commissioning programs, and travel restrictions based solely on COVID vaccination status will be removed or amended. The government has since filed a notice that it plans to appeal the decision. The Pentagon directed all the services to "formally rescind any policies, directives, and guidance implementing those vaccination mandates as soon as possible, if they have not already done so," according to a Friday press release. Military service members have. And the way that they are accomplishing their compelling interest is the least restrictive means on the persons religious beliefs. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act sets a low bar for proving ones religious beliefs, in that if someone states them, they are assumed to be sincere. The Supreme Court ruled in March 2022 that the sea service was allowed to reassign sailors who had refused the shot and filed exemption requests to nonoperational commands. WASHINGTON Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none . They argue that their 1st Amendment rights are being infringed upon, because their sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Under the law, theres no requirement that you adhere to a major or even recognized faith tradition, he said. However, in a strange turn of events, while Bolsonaro was eating Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes in Orlando, a group of Bolsonaristas (supporters of Bolsonaro) attacked the Brazilian Supreme Court, Congress, and Presidential Palace in Brasilia and called for a military coup.Lula blamed Bolsonaro personally for the attacks; Moraes quickly moved to suspend Brasilia's governor and security chief . They are, theyre ignoring the law, theyre ignoring the Constitution. The military across the board is discriminating discriminating against people of faith. Mike Berry, general counsel for First Liberty Institute,said: Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and Americas values . The lawsuit is one of two that have grabbed headlines in recent months, as the military has imposed mandatory vaccination deadlines that have since lapsed for all of the services and their components, save the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. They will also have to make the case that vaccinating, or involuntarily discharging, every service member is the least restrictive means of keeping the force safe from COVID-19, rather than enforcing masking or social distancing or in some cases, grandfathering in troops who acquired some immunity after catching COVID-19. Many religious exemption applications have explained that the service members werent aware of the use of fetal stem cells prior to all of the controversy over the COVID-19 vaccine, but for the purposes of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, they dont have to explain themselves. Government lawyers argue the policy is in line with well-established principles of judicial noninterference with core military decision making, in their briefs. Members of the U.S. military who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 are starting to face the consequences. When I meet my maker, Im going to be held responsible for the decisions Ive made, and Id much rather go to prison, Stapanon testified in March. The World Health Organization approved Covaxin for emergency use in late 2021, making it a viable option for airmen who object to the three main U.S. shots. The Navy began issuing guidance to sailors earlier this month. The plaintiffs argue that violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. The primary protest centers around fetal stem cells, which may or may not have originated with an aborted pregnancy. Other plaintiffs focus not on the abortion issue, but on several Bible passages that refer to the body as a temple. And they have different ranks, different different job responsibilities in the Air Force, a number of them are actually pilots in the Air Force. Per FDA guidance, these two vaccines are interchangeable and DoD health care providers should use doses distributed under the EUA to administer the vaccination series as if the doses were the licensed vaccine, " she wrote. For a population accustomed to having very little power over their personal decisions where they live, what they wear, how they cut their hair, how much they weigh the opportunity to have some control over their medical decisions is an enormous discovery. The chief of Irans nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, acknowledged the findings of the IAEA report. Quite the contrary, they view life whether their own or that of their fellow servicemembers as sacred and deserving protection.. The service members who filed the lawsuit represent more than 350 collective years of military service, and more than 100 combat deployments. COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. And yet were short, were saying that were having a hard time recruiting people. The government has recently ordered imminent punitive action against those men and women of faith who cannot in good conscience take these experimental vaccines, and this order stops the government in its tracks, Adam Hochschild, a lawyer with the Thomas More Society and lead counsel in Air Force Officer v. Austin, said in a release. Although certain COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a slightly increased risk of blood clotting or heart inflammation, COVID-19 itself is associated with a higher rate of these and other conditions. More than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19 since the virus began spreading in December 2019, and the U.S. has recorded around 89 million cases. Rabies shots are required only for some service members in certain career fields. And now people will be able to take the analysis Supreme Court used and say, Okay, the way that they analyzed this issue, that might give us some indication of how they would analyze other issues, right. All rights reserved. The Navy lawsuit is one of several ongoing legal challenges to the military branches' policies on religious exemptions to the DoD COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The latest class action targets the Air Forces religious accommodation process, arguing that process is set up in such a way that getting a religious exemption to the vaccine is almost impossible. The . Feb. 23, 2023. Those records are supposed to be cleared by March 31, according to the guidance. In his order, OConnor granted an injunction against the Biden administration and the Department of Defense, preventing them from enforcing the vaccine mandate against any of the named service members who had applied for a religious exemption. The judge agreed, issuing an injunction against discipline for the sailors on Jan. 3. More than 8,400 troops were forced out of the military for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. So our lawsuit is really predicated on on the argument that this is all a sham, that the Air Force is not following the Constitution. Three of the event's witnesses doctors Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorf, and Marty Makary are part of a small group of medical experts known as the Norfolk Group. The group includes 14 men and two women. All 16 service members joined the lawsuit anonymously, listing in the filing only their currently assigned bases and statuses in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or reserve components. However, vaccine opponents note that commanders can still make decisions on how and whether to deploy unvaccinated troops, under a memo signed last month by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Jared Serbu: Mike, thanks for being here. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.). The Texas case has smaller aspirations purposely, Berry said. OConnormade note of thisin his order, calling the process for seeking a religious exemption nothing more than theater, stating that the Navy merely rubber-stamps each denial, and stressing that the record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Navys religious-accommodation process is an exercise in futility.. 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In fact, as of Dec. 17, the religious accommodation requests of at least 29 of the 35 naval plaintiffs had been flatly denied. Army leadership has been eyeing the possibility of a mandated COVID-19 vaccine this summer, including in a June information paper originating from the Army's health care operations directorate . The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who refuse to be vaccinated for religious reasons told a 5th U.S. "We will continue to promote and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all personnel to ensure readiness, facilitate mission accomplishment, and protect the force.". Another difference is that the VICP is a no-fault compensation program. The Heritage Foundation, a petitioner in the case challenging the private-sector vaccine mandate,has asked the courtto invalidate the governments order. How large is the class? This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Please contact Susan Rushkowski at publicfiledc@hubbardradio.com or (202) 895-5027. And in one instance, I saw one of the head people for recruiting in the military said, Were having a really hard time identifying, basically people who are eligible to serve in the military. It is a danger of, you know, the government saying, Well, hey, heres what your faith tradition teaches, you should follow that, " Griffin said. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines do not need fetal cell lines for development or production but were tested on fetal cell lines replicated from a fetus aborted in the 1970s to ensure their efficacy. Theres been a lot of great saints that have gone to prison, so Im willing to do that.. Read Next: The Navy's Top Enlisted Sailor Is Ready for You to Ask Him Anything. Right? The goal, representatives for the plaintiffs say, is to at least secure religious exemptions for their clients, but potentially see a Supreme Court ruling that would apply to all service members. Same thing on airplanes, right? Any sailors who submitted a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine can continue in the Navy under the injunction, according to NAVADMIN 102/22. He spoke with a reporter last Wednesday but did . Unlike VARES that is questioned a lot by the totally compromised medical establishment for accuracy, the U.S. military DMED (Defense Medical Epidemiology Database) reporting system is only submitted by military doctors and qualifies every single ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code in the military for Tricare billing to Humana Insurance covering over 6 million military personal. Copyright 2023 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. Dr Terry Adirim, the government bureaucrat behind the infamous and unlawful Pentagon vaccine mandate, will "leave her post in the coming days," reports FedScoop. The Supreme Court is historically, they only address the legal issues that are brought before them, right. DoD, for its part, settled its own policy with a memo from Assistant Defense Secretary for Health Affairs Terry Adirim last fall. Why is the DoD ignoring natural immunity when the CDC and other epidemiologists and medical experts have all generally agreed natural immunity is a real thing. NEW ORLEANS Federal appeals court judges closely questioned a Biden administration attorney Monday on the consequences military personnel might face for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations, even though Bidens vaccine mandate for military personnel has been rescinded. This means that you do not need to prove that your injury was caused by a doctor or the vaccine company's mistake. That means that this is quickly becoming a national security concern. And well be back week after week.. Its just such an inappropriate position for the government to be in.. And one of the reasons for that is if they if theyre between the ages of 17 and 23, and theyre not vaccinated, were not even willing to talk to them. And so theyre basically closing off an entire segment of society in a discriminatory manner. The story seems pretty similar to whats going on with these airmen. They become the exception and not the norm. DOD Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., You got a preliminary injunction in that case and a favorable ruling from the Fifth Circuit. Overall, scientific evidence indicates that the benefits of vaccines largely . Trident Order #12 also implemented the COVID-19 vaccine mandate at the command level for Naval Special Warfare forces, setting a deadline of compliance for October 17, 2021," the SEALs' legal team . Im very confident that this case going to the Supreme Court, Mat Staver whose Liberty Counsel represents plaintiffs in the Florida case told Military Times on Tuesday. Similar to the Navy, the Marine Corps is no longer stopping unvaccinated Marines from deployments. The Air Force number is probably in the same ballpark. But nevertheless, how many, I fly almost on a weekly basis for my job. U.S. Military Service Members with Natural Immunity File Lawsuit over COVID Vaccine Mandate. New family, former Corvias employee join lawsuit against Fort . The government responded to the lawsuit by pointing out that immunization requirements are common in the military beginning with the Continental Army under George Washington and that vaccines and are essential to preventing the transmission of diseases in close quarters. Complainants push back on the militarys position that remaining unvaccinated endangers the force and undermines national security, since the vast majority of troops have received all of a one- or two-shot regimen. And in some cases, according to some reports, its even more durable than the vaccine and you dont have to get boosters and things like that. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was developed and cleared for emergency use in eight months a fact . The service branches must notify the Pentagon that they've made the changes no later than March 17. But Im willing to do that. The Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,OConnor wrote, adding: The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. For OConnor, the violation ofthe lawwas clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs religious beliefs. Its really the same thing in the military context with this vaccine, where theyre saying, Look, teleworking or, doing a lot of these other measures, right, social distancing, masking, testing, whatever the case might be. Plaintiffs sincerely held religious beliefs that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that they are to glorify God with their bodies lays the foundation for everything they do, consume, or inject into their bodies, according to the Florida lawsuit. I think we win under the First Amendment, because you have individualized exemptions with medical exemptions, but not religious exemptions.. (Susan Walsh/AP, File). Were pleased that the court has acted to protect our brave warriors before more damage is done to our national security. Underthat law, the government may substantially burden a persons exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that burden is (1) in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md. Mondays arguments were heard by Duncan and Ho, both nominated to the 5th Circuit by President Donald Trump, and James Graves, a nominee of President Barack Obama. The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. The military's COVID-19 vaccine was repealed after the National Defense Authorization Act passed and was signed into law this month. Commercial airlines has said, you know what, were gonna lift the mask mandate. The three coronavirus vaccines currently available in the United Statesthe Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and, as of Saturday, the Johnson & Johnson versionsare approved on "emergency use. None of the plaintiffs clarify whether they engage in any other behavior that might be seen as a desecration of that temple, whether its alcohol, drugs, unprotected sex or in the case of the Old Testament tattoos and piercings. The new policy guidance to the services makes no mention of reinstating service members who were separated from the military for refusing the shot. -- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Each week, Defense Reporter Jared Serbu speaks with the managers of the federal government's largest department. 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