All vaccination requirements related to Covid-19 – including those related to theater entry and deployability – are rescinded. Image: Wolfilser/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAs called for under the recently passed defense spending bill, service members no longer have to be inoculated for Covid-19. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo last week to all hands that provided details and conditions. The services also will reverse any Covid inoculation-related adverse personnel actions.
The change applies to vaccination requirements issued Aug. 24 and Nov. 30, 2021. All services must notify the Pentagon’s personnel and readiness office by March 17 that adherence to the directive has been completed.
All vaccination requirements related to Covid-19 – including those related to theater entry and deployability – are rescinded. Commanders still have some leeway to consider appropriate immunizations when, for example, they are required in order to meet a foreign country’s entry requirements.
In such instances, Defense Department health officials would issue an order for mandatory immunization “judiciously and only when justified by compelling needs and will be as narrowly tailored as possible,” the memo stated.
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