300aa-10-300aa-44). Other plaintiffs focus not on the abortion issue, but on several Bible passages that refer to the body as a temple. If the court certifies the class does the class become all unvaccinated airmen or everyone whos been denied a religious exemption? In fact, as of Dec. 17, the religious accommodation requests of at least 29 of the 35 naval plaintiffs had been flatly denied. Jared Serbu: Yeah, theres a ton. 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. 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. 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the Navy personnel, said the situation could be seen as worse now for them now that the older mandate policy has been rescinded, because current policy does not provide for a sailors religious objections to the vaccine to be considered when deployment or assignment decisions are made. Same thing on airplanes, right? And so all of them have requested religious accommodations from the vaccine mandate, which is, of course, something that DoD regulations and even federal law, clearly permit and allow. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the mid-morning attack. 3 min read POINT PLEASANT, NJ A U.S. Marine from Point Pleasant who was discharged. There are some notable caveats. This means that you do not need to prove that your injury was caused by a doctor or the vaccine company's mistake. 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. But it may not take a lawsuit for the issue to change the environment when it comes to mandatory vaccination. The Navy granted another 500 administrative exemptions, including temporary waivers for sailors planning to leave the service or in the middle of a permanent change-of-station move, for example. The vaccine mandate divided Americans and has remained a contentious political issue. 26 Feb 2023 11:38:25 Our military, I mean, you can open any news feed that you want. Essentially, while the Marines applied for exemptions on religious grounds, they were already entitled to a much more straightforward administrative exemption for troops soon to leave service or not currently with their units, which is likely the reason they were approved. I dont think that the precedent is going to be that big of one, Griffin, the former Coast Guard lawyer, said. WASHINGTON The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the. Members of the U.S. military who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 are starting to face the consequences. Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine syringes at a vaccination clinic in the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody, Massachusetts, on Jan. 26, 2022. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited,OConnor said: As a brief preview, the vaccine mandate fails strict scrutiny. While powerful, that statement isnt true. Theyll accept that alternative and say, okay, you know, Im willing to do that instead. 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 . And that is textbook discrimination, right? Staver believes the Florida case case has a good chance of making it to the Supreme Court, potentially invalidating all government mandates for COVID-19 vaccination. The Coast Guard issued guidance Monday announcing it was "taking action to remove" all administrative remark entries related to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate from reserve and active-duty records. Its just under 4,100. Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . 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. The suit was initially filed by a group of Navy SEALs but later expanded to include all vaccine-refusing sailors. This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal. 1:51:01 Awkward Andrea Mitchell lectures MSNBC reporter about using term "pro-life" 2:09:32 Baby "chop shop" FOIA lawsuit. Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who refuse to be vaccinated for religious reasons told a 5th U.S. U.S. Military Service Members with Natural Immunity File Lawsuit over COVID Vaccine Mandate. A 5th Circuit panel rejected the Biden administrations request to block the judges order. So thats usually unwise, and so practitioners who are in front of the Supreme Court frequently like us, we usually know not to do that. And yet were short, were saying that were having a hard time recruiting people. According to the First Liberty Institute, the public interest law firm representing the service members, each of the denials appeared to be identical, suggesting the Navy had not taken any of the religious exemption requests seriously. A dozen U.S. Air Force officers have filed a lawsuit . Hes one of the attorneys representing the airmen challenging the mandate, and he spoke more to Jared Serbu on theFederal Drive with Tom Temin. 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. Several lawsuits have been filed by sailors opposing the mandate and challenging the Navy's approach to reviewing the religious exemption requests. The mandate treats comparable secular activity (e.g., medical exemptions) more favorably than religious activity. They are, theyre ignoring the law, theyre ignoring the Constitution. That means that this is quickly becoming a national security concern. Another difference is that the VICP is a no-fault compensation program. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members. By The Associated Press WASHINGTON A bill to rescind the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the House on. Theyre not following their own regulations. 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. 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. The Texas lawsuit also states the plaintiffs are willing to continue to wear masks, social distance and take mandatory COVID-19 tests, rather than get vaccinated. 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. The Navy began issuing guidance to sailors earlier this month. 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. For OConnor, the violation ofthe lawwas clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs religious beliefs. The law says that sincerely held religious beliefs are to be taken at face value. 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 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. Attorneys for the unvaccinated Navy personnel argued in briefs to the 5th Circuit that Austins memo and other Defense Department actions show that the Navy still intends to treat unvaccinated personnel like second-class citizens because of their religious beliefs.. Hey you have the Friday night shift, right? 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. 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. All rights reserved. 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. On Jan. 10, the DOD officially rescinded its Aug. 24, 2021, and Nov. 30, 2021, memoranda mandating that all members of the U.S. military, including the National Guard and Ready Reserves, take the emergency use authorization COVID-19 shots or face discharge and other disciplinary measures. 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. Read Next: The Navy's Top Enlisted Sailor Is Ready for You to Ask Him Anything. President Joe Biden signed the. To date, no members of the Army or Space Force have received a religious exemption, though nine airmen and three Marines have been approved. 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. ), the Washington Post, and others. 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. The Air Force Department had received more than 12,000 religious exemption requests, denying over 3,000 of them and with roughly 2,000 still in adjudication. The Florida case also expands the arguments past the religious exemption process, citing a handful of other arguments made by COVID-19 vaccine detractors. 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. Just three days later, he issued a far more sweeping order granting 4,095 service members a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine. Staver, the attorney for the Florida plaintiffs, said his clients have shared their exemption rejection letters, which do not detail specifically why their requests werent approved. WASHINGTON (AP) A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the House on Thursday as. Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. And yet people who work and I mean, youre coming in very close proximity with thousands of people per day, hundreds of people per hour. A timeline of when vaccines are due was left up to the . He spoke with a reporter last Wednesday but did . The lawsuit also fails to mention an established precedent regarding vaccines in religious traditions. The U.S . The lawsuit filed by Air Force members and other federal employees claims that "the US Constitution and numerous federal laws make it unlawful to compel persons to be vaccinated." The plaintiffs. 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 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. But nevertheless, how many, I fly almost on a weekly basis for my job. And theyre discriminating against people in the military. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the military's process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. Jehovahs Witnesses, who ban military service for their members, are probably the most prominent. But although the Air Force has approved hundreds of medical and administrative exemptions, they have only approved a very small handful of religious exemptions and even the ones that theyve approved by their own admission, they are only for Air Force members who are basically already separating or are already on their way out. 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. 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 . Military service members have. In January of last year, a federal judge in Texas barred the Navy from taking any action against the Navy plaintiffs for being unvaccinated. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek declined to comment on ongoing litigation and how it may affect how the service handles religious accommodation requests. And then if you come back and you say, oh, no, but my exemption is a medical exemption [see Contraindications and Precautions]not a religious exemption, then the military says, Oh, well, in that case, we welcome you with open arms. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. I think one of the militarys concerns is whats the limiting principle here? 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. DoD, for its part, settled its own policy with a memo from Assistant Defense Secretary for Health Affairs Terry Adirim last fall. Another plaintiff is fighting in court after trying to retire one alternative to vaccination the Air Force offered. That includes protection from an adverse action while their exemptions are in process, a key part of the complaint, according to one of the attorneys on the lawsuit, which alleges that the plaintiffs have been removed from their jobs, flagged for promotion or otherwise hampered during the exemption process. Then in April, the WHO warned that. Mike Barry:It would be everyone who is requested and been denied a religious accommodation from the vaccine mandates, specifically the COVID vaccine mandate. 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. The story seems pretty similar to whats going on with these airmen. Ross said such questions were speculative and not at issue in the case before the court. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Researchers cultivate these cells for generations, using their derivatives to create or test all manner of pharmaceutical products. In one of manyongoing federal lawsuitschallenging COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country, Judge Reed OConnor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a group of Navy SEALs and Naval Special Warfare personnel a resounding victory Jan. 3 inU.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden. The military across the board is discriminating discriminating against people of faith. Fox News U.S. Similar to the Navy, the Marine Corps is no longer stopping unvaccinated Marines from deployments. It is a danger of, you know, the government saying, Well, hey, heres what your faith tradition teaches, you should follow that, " Griffin said. Nor do they mention the host of common medications that also use these stem cells, including Tylenol, Advil/Motrin, aspirin, Tums, Pepto Bismol, Benadryl, Sudafed and Claritin. 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 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. Copyright 2023 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. In a hypothetical alternate universe where it were the Navy and the Air Force, the rest of the services had an exemption process or a waiver process that did look more credible to you and to the court, do you lose these cases? 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 I havent heard of a single Starbucks shutting down. And both lawsuits include arguments that the plaintiffs prayed on the issue and came to the conclusion that vaccination would violate their principles. They dont offer what are, in the legal speak, we call advisory opinions. Theyre not pleasant. ", -- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report. 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. Judge Matthew McFarlands decision brings the case, Doster v. Kendall, closer to trial as a class-action lawsuit. 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. Thats really prohibited by the by the courts considering these types of cases. US Military To Face COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit February 18, 2023. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the military's process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. 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. Dr Terry Adirim, the government bureaucrat behind the infamous and unlawful Pentagon vaccine mandate, will "leave her post in the coming days," reports FedScoop. All rights reserved. The latest data from the military show that roughly 30,000 active-duty service members remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, despite a Defense Department mandate issued in August and deadlines. COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. "We are grateful for the support of the Legislature and the Governor in the State's efforts to block the . The decision sets the stage for a future trial or, possibly, the case winding its way up to the Supreme Court. 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.. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . Because how do you avoid getting to the point where anyone can deny or refuse any lawful order by claiming that they have a sincerely held religious belief that would be encumbered by it?
March 11, 2023