The U.S. military is preparing to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all personnel as soon as September 1, according to a report in the Army Times. The military newspaper first reported the expected mandate on Friday, before the long holiday weekend.
The mandate for servicemembers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is dependent upon the experimental vaccines receiving full approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is expected in September.
The vaccine mandate is hidden in an update to HQDA EXORD 225-21, COVID-19 Steady State Operations:
Commanders will continue COVID-19 vaccination operations and prepare for a directive to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for service members [on or around] 01 September 2021, pending full FDA licensure,” the update said. “Commands will be prepared to provide a back-brief on service member vaccination status and way ahead for completion once the vaccine is mandated.
An EXORD is a directive that can only come from the president via the secretary of state. So, this is Joe Biden’s doing despite how the mainstream media may try to spin it.
The possible mandate for U.S. servicemembers to receive the experimental vaccines comes just days after a JAMA Network cardiology study showed that 23 male servicemembers (22 of them previously healthy) were diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, within days of receiving the second dose of a vaccine with mRNA technology.
That military study comes on the heels of an Israeli study suggesting a “probable link between receiving the second dose of the (Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16-30.” The FDA and the CDC in America also examined a link between mRNA vaccines and heart inflammation in an “emergency meeting” last month, but concluded that the risk was small so there was no need to stop issuing the vaccine.
And now the mRNA vaccines are considered so safe for use that they intend to mandate them for young, healthy servicemen — the exact type of people who are at little to no risk from the virus itself but who are at the most risk from the side effects of the vaccine.
News of the possible mandate is not being well received by some members of the military. Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted on July 3 that some have told him they intend to resign from the military rather than be forced to take the experimental vaccines.
“I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated,” Massie wrote.
The congressman is looking to block any vaccine mandates for the military with legislation.
“I introduced HR 3860 to prohibit any mandatory requirement that a member of the Armed Forces receive a vaccination against COVID-19,” Massie said. “It now has 24 sponsors.”
Unfortunately, for Massie and members of the military who don’t wish to be vaccinated, the sponsor list includes no Democrats thus far making it unlikely to get a fair hearing — much less a vote — in a House of Representatives controlled by Nancy Pelosi.
Back in February it was reported that close to one-third of military members wished to opt out of the vaccine.
The issue of forced vaccinations for military personnel has reached into the military academies as well. Last month it was reported that approximately three dozen of the 4,500 members of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were being singled out by the administration and bullied by peers for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Fox News’ Hannity, host Sean Hannity suggested that cadets were “being subjected to punitive COVID restrictions, harassment, coercion from West Point leadership and even from their fellow cadets.”
On Hannity’s show, cadets claimed that they were ostracized for not receiving the vaccine, even if they had experienced COVID-19 and had built up antibodies that way. Unvaccinated cadets reported that they were called “diseased” and “dirty” and punished for violating mask-wearing and social distancing rules even after New York State, where West Point is located, lifted such restrictions.
So it seems the vaccine situation in the military is much the same as in civilian life with the added caveat that it seems President Biden believes he can force servicemembers into that risky decision. First, if a person decides not to get the experimental vaccine he or she is bullied and shamed into submission like those cadets at West Point.
But Joe Biden believes that he can simply order members of the military to take a risky, unproven vaccine if it’s for some nebulous “greater good.”
It would be interesting to see what would happen if the reported one-third of the military who wished to opt out of vaccination simply decided not to take the shot. Would they be forced to take it at gunpoint?
