Another difference is that the VICP is a no-fault compensation program. Simply put, no actual fetal cells were used in the development of any of the COVID-19 vaccines the cells in question were replicated by scientists, in labs, from tissue harvested previously. FILE - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. More than a dozen unidentified U.S. service members have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine order, saying they have natural immunity from. The first military COVID-19 vaccine mandate will take effect in November. And what if this is political ideology masquerading as as religious piety? Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . The lawsuit emerges as the latest development in an ongoing fight between state leaders and the federal government as Gov. Peter Hill: Stats shown illness up in the military after COVID vaccine Mike Barry: Probably not at the Supreme Court level. I know, off the top of my head, the number in the Navy is somewhere near 4,100. Washington Technology Power Breakfast: Cyber Command planning intelligence center, TSP contractor promises more improvements, for other communicable diseases and infections, FOIA backlogs on the rise after record number of requests, Revived bills would alter feds payment obligations during shutdowns, federal first responders pensions, VA launches equity task force to address disparity in benefits decisions based on race, White House $1.6B COVID fraud plan gives federal watchdogs increased staffing, VA deputy secretary, leader on EHR rollout and customer experience, is stepping down. Starbucks, for example, doesnt have a vaccine requirement. AFLDS has also pushed ivermectin and. Copyright 2023 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. Thousands of U.S. military defy COVID-19 vaccine order - Los Angeles Times Then in April, the WHO warned that supplier Bharat Biotech had stopped production because of deficiencies in good manufacturing practices.. Jehovahs Witnesses, who ban military service for their members, are probably the most prominent. 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 . Is there any assurance on the record, that there will be no deployment decisions based on vaccination? Judge James Ho, one of three judges hearing the case asked Department of Justice lawyer Casen Ross. More than 1.14 million out of the 1.4 million active military members have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to DoD data. Navy officer sues DOD, Navy leaders over COVID vaccine - Navy Times The judge recognized that when he granted our [temporary restraining order] on Feb. 2 because toward the end, he said the public has an interest also in this because these are courageous skilled, individuals who are not easily replaceable, Staver said. The mandate treats comparable secular activity (e.g., medical exemptions) more favorably than religious activity. 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. Kevin Stitt with Fox News ads Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Commercial airlines has said, you know what, were gonna lift the mask mandate. Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Lawmakers expressed frustration with the news . The military across the board is discriminating discriminating against people of faith. Biden admin still pushing COVID vaccine mandate for military: It's Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. WASHINGTON (AP) The military services are still reviewing possible discipline of troops who refused the order to get the COVID-19 vaccine, defense officials told Congress on Tuesday, and they provided few details on how many of those who were forced out of the military would like to return. About 97% of the Department of the Air Force is fully vaccinated, though a larger share of active duty airmen and guardians have gotten the jab compared to their Guard and Reserve counterparts. Bill Would Force Military To Reinstate Those Who Refused COVID Vaccine "We are grateful for the support of the Legislature and the Governor in the State's efforts to block the . From this foundation they make studied and reasonable decisions about what is good and what is not good or may not be good for their bodies.. This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal. Read Next: The Navy's Top Enlisted Sailor Is Ready for You to Ask Him Anything. The Texas lawsuit argues that the Navy Department is blanketly denying all religious requests, making the process a sham. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. Ho and Judge Kyle Duncan noted that the administration had only reluctantly ended the military mandate after December congressional action, but Ross assured the panel that there are no plans to bring back the requirement. What the government will have to prove, in both cases, is that while its granted thousands of medical and administrative exemptions though many of those are temporary that the high bar for approval of religious exemptions is necessary for keeping the force healthy and deployable. A federal court in Ohio on Thursday blocked the Air Force from enforcing the militarys coronavirus vaccine mandate for two weeks, a short-term win for airmen fighting multiple legal battles against inoculation. US Military To Face COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit February 18, 2023. And lets start by talking a bit about your clients, where they are in the Air Force vaccine exemption process and what led you to file the suit? The soldier and Marine also want their case escalated into a class action lawsuit to take in other military personnel plus Department of Defense contractors. Pfizer Inc wants to intervene in a Texas federal lawsuit seeking information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used in licensing the company's COVID-19 vaccine, a litigation move that . Johnson & Johnson uses cells replicated from a fetus aborted in 1985 to produce its vaccine, but those cells are filtered out from the final product. Theyre burdensome, but the person says, But you know what, at the end of the day, Im not have to inject something in my body that violates my religious beliefs. Theyre basically saying, Nope, the vaccine is the only way that were going to allow you to continue to remain in the service. And one of the things I forgot to mention was the whole concept of natural immunity. In the Ohio case, 2nd Lt. Hunter Doster of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and more than a dozen other plaintiffs argue the Air Force is forcing them to lose their livelihoods or violate their religious beliefs by receiving vaccines they say are impure or have ties to abortion. 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. In late August, Pfizers vaccine received full approval under the brand name Comirnaty. The Catholic Churchs policy on derived fetal cells has been clear for decades: the sin of abortion is so far removed in pharmaceutical development that a Catholic is not violating any principles by getting vaccinated. Military service members have. And both lawsuits include arguments that the plaintiffs prayed on the issue and came to the conclusion that vaccination would violate their principles. Right? Its just under 4,100. And yet were short, were saying that were having a hard time recruiting people. Additionally, "promotion records will be corrected by the [Department of the Air Force] who will remove or redact all adverse actions related to vaccine refusal," according to a Friday press release. Troops who refuse mandatory COVID-19 vaccines will likely also face courts-martial for the same offense, said Zaid, who represented Task & Purpose in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force . But the DoD is just saying Nope, we wont even recognize that we wont even consider it, even though they consider natural immunity for other communicable diseases and infections and things like that. T he MAGA medical group that spent the pandemic pushing horse paste and malaria meds as quack COVID cures has a new crusade: suing the Pentagon to stop its vaccine mandate. If the court certifies the class does the class become all unvaccinated airmen or everyone whos been denied a religious exemption? 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. US Military has approved religious exemptions to vaccine mandate - CNN OConnor ruled that the blanket denial of their religious waiver requests amounted to a violation of the service members rights under the First Amendment andthe Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The "rule" and the ways it will be fought 1:43:40 How to fight the NFA and its unconstitutional rule about barrel lengths. Military leaders have long argued that to maintain unit health and troop readiness, troops have for decades been required to get as many as 17 vaccines, particularly those who are deploying overseas. And so of course, that means you have to bring different lawsuits on behalf of people, depending on what branch of the military that theyre in. VICP provides compensation for injuries and deaths caused by Whats clear is that the COVID-19 has broken open a bit of a wormhole in the military. 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. The judge's decision impacts 200 to 300 servicemembers stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, who filed the lawsuit against top military leaders back in February. Plaintiffs do not believe that staying true to their faith means exposing themselves or others to unnecessary risk, according to the filing. The service members sued this week to vacate a Pentagon vaccine mandate for all those in the military, arguing they face imminent harm if a court order isn't issued temporarily blocking the. The policy does allow commanders to "implement Health Protection Measures at any time or manner deemed necessary in support of operational safety and effectiveness." When you treat people who have a medical exemption for more favorably than you treat somebody who has a religious exemption, that is textbook discrimination, and thats whats happening. In the filing, attorneys argue that the plaintiffs are facing criminal conviction and dishonorable discharge, which would strip them of any veterans benefits. Federal judge expands exemption to military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate 16Jan23 FAA's Feeble Lie Denying the Hack That Grounded ALL The primary protest centers around fetal stem cells, which may or may not have originated with an aborted pregnancy. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . But there may be good reason for that. So everywhere else in society has been able to figure this out, but our military hasnt because they take such an iron fisted, draconian approach to everything. And thats why this is a sham.Jared Serbu: The Air Force case is a putative class action. Overall, scientific evidence indicates that the benefits of vaccines largely . The complaint also brings up the issue of Food and Drug Administration licensure. So if you can find a way to accommodate somebodys religious beliefs, in a less burdensome way right, a way thats less obstructive or cumbersome on their religious exercise, then if the person is really sincere in their religious beliefs, theyll usually accept that. Each of those shots also involves cell tissue derived from fetuses, as does one version of the rabies vaccine. More than 60,000 Army soldiers losing pay, benefits over vaccine Hey you have the Friday night shift, right? More:Dark money group targets Oklahoma Gov. U.S. Airmen file lawsuit fighting Biden COVID-19 vaccine mandate - WOWT Subscribe to Federal Drives daily audio interviews onApple PodcastsorPodcastOne. Under the law, theres no requirement that you adhere to a major or even recognized faith tradition, he said. 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. On Monday, Heather Hacker, an attorney for the Navy personnel, said the situation could be seen as worse now for them now that the older mandate policy has been rescinded, because current policy does not provide for a sailors religious objections to the vaccine to be considered when deployment or assignment decisions are made. Austin ends the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Ex-soldier, a neo-Nazi, gets 45 years for plot to ambush his own unit, Issues with the Armys Europe-based equipment trigger readiness alarms, Veterans Affairs drops mask requirement for all agency medical offices, How the Marine Corps is preparing for era of contested logistics, Tax scams How to report them Money Minute, Capitol Hill weighs action on two controversial topics: medical marijuana and abortion, Lockheed wins hypersonics contract | Defense Dollars, Go inside a secret nuclear fallout bunker sealed for decades, Perennial pilot shortage puts Air Force in precarious position, Pentagon again denies helping Ukraine attack targets inside Russia. But in terms of the underlying legal issues that are raised, no, theyre exactly the same. 300aa-10-300aa-44). The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. The Florida filing also spends much more time on the biographies of the complainants. 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. Vaccine refusers often state that the use of fetal cell lines in the creation of the shots conflicts with their views on abortion. They include the small risk of myocarditis, which has anecdotally occurred in 1,626 U.S. residents out of more than 200 million fully vaccinated, with the highest risk in men under 24. A federal judge in Cincinnati has expanded a temporary exemption to a Department of Defense COVID-19 vaccine mandate to cover thousands of service members in the U.S. Air Force and Space Force,. A ruling in that case, issued this past November by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, upheld previous wins by attorneys representing the service members over the last year and took aim at the Air Force's process of approving religious exemptions. The government burdens religion when it put[s] substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs.. Theyre not pleasant. But Islamic tradition does not discourage vaccination, and doesnt forbid abortion before 17 weeks gestation, with even more leeway if the health of the mother is in jeopardy or if there are life-threatening fetal abnormalities. The service branches must notify the Pentagon that they've made the changes no later than March 17. Their lawyers have called a sham with applications being categorically denied., The Defense Department denied the process was onerous and said the Navy has a compelling interest in requiring vaccinations for personnel who often operate for long periods in confined spaces that are ripe breeding grounds for respiratory illnesses.. Both cases are in a wait-and-see phase, where judges have granted injunctions against any discipline for vaccine refusal while the government responds to requests for information. 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. Jared Serbu: This case seems remarkably similar to another case that I think First Liberty was also counsel on with a group of Navy SEALs before the very same judge, I believe too. Jared Serbu: Last thing, theres a lot of these vaccine cases, even just military vaccine cases floating around in various district courts and circuits the moment. The Florida case began with a Navy and Marine Corps officer in 2021, but has soon ballooned to 36 plaintiffs from all military branches as well as some civilian Defense Department employees. The . "It hasn't done it yet. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. -- Thomas Novelly can be reached at [email protected]. Several lawsuits have been filed by sailors opposing the mandate and challenging the Navy's approach to reviewing the religious exemption requests. The new policy guidance to the services makes no mention of reinstating service members who were separated from the military for refusing the shot. Air Force vaccine case will remain a class-action, appeals court rules 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. Pope Francis has called vaccination against COVID-19 a moral obligation and an act of love., Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts, he said in January, adding that vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease.. President Joe Biden signed the. Cincinnati federal judge blocks Air Force, Air National Guard - FOX19 Other plaintiffs focus not on the abortion issue, but on several Bible passages that refer to the body as a temple. For the Texas case, its more likely those sailors will receive religious exemptions, but that they wont necessarily change the way the military mandates vaccines or reviews exemptions. Indeed, Defendants employed such measures during the prior year before COVID-19 vaccines were made widely available.. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that federal court injunctions against the mandate are still needed, in part because decisions on deployments and assignments can still be made based on vaccination status. Plaintiffs, therefore, do not object to safety measures that reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace, it reads. Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was developed and cleared for emergency use in eight months a fact . Need help accessing the FCC Public File due to a disability? 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. Judge grants relief to Navy SEALs who refused coronavirus vaccine, sued It is not yet clear how the various services will handle pending lawsuits that sprang up in the years following the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. "I am proud of the efforts the Department of the Army has taken to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic," Wormuth said. The latest lawsuit challenging DoD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate says the Air Force's process makes religious accommodations almost impossible to get. And in fact, he said, the exemption process is fraught in and of itself. Department of Justice seeks dismissal of military vaccine lawsuit The U.S . Only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is manufactured using fetal cell lines. Two Eglin Air Force base officers are among the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. military personnel. "We will continue to promote and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all personnel to ensure readiness, facilitate mission accomplishment, and protect the force.". Military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate lifted, but litigation lingers Because of those peoples religious beliefs and religious convictions. 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. The Marine Corps had fielded 3,500 religious waiver requests, granting three, in addition to about 250 medical waivers and 400 other administrative approvals. 16 Service Members Sue to Halt DoD's Vaccine Order | Military.com The Bonkers Lawsuit to Stop the Pentagon's Vaccine Mandate But their. Their objections to the vaccine fall into one of four categories, according to their complaint, including opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in pharmaceutical development, belief that body modification violates their religious principles, direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine, or declining to inject trace amounts of animal cells into ones body.. The population of people seeking religious accommodations now is fairly small.. The suit was initially filed by a group of Navy SEALs but later expanded to include all vaccine-refusing sailors. The NAVADMIN, referencing the injunction, prevents adverse action against sailors who will not get the COVID-19 vaccine and submitted a religious exemptions request. Most of the plaintiffs express some sort of Christian faith, though the vast majority of denominations have no formal ban on vaccination. Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.). We are hemorrhaging people like crazy, and were having a really hard time recruiting capable people to join our military. New data is out on COVID vaccine injury claims. What's to make of it? CBC News reached out multiple times to Galati, who is listed as the spokesperson for the lawsuit in a press release issued by Vaccine Choice Canada. And that is textbook discrimination, right? On Friday, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, which repeals the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. He spoke with a reporter last Wednesday but did . Those records are supposed to be cleared by March 31, according to the guidance. ", -- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report. Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who refuse to be vaccinated for religious reasons told a 5th U.S. Another lawsuit, first filed by troops attached to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, has led to temporary protections for around 10,000 active-duty, Active Reserve, reserve and National Guard members of the Air Force and Space Force who requested a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine, although only those who have been denied an exemption would face immediate action. Military Leaders Called To Testify About Impact Of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Mike Barry:Well, I mean, thats the beauty of the way that the law works, right? Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly. Also missing from the lawsuits are any new religious conversion, or simply the possibility that they were previously unaware of the role of replicated fetal stem cells in pharmaceutical development, that would explain why they never objected to any vaccines or medications before. U.S. Military Service Members with Natural Immunity File Lawsuit over