U.S. Air Force discharges 27 servicemen for refusing COVID-19 vaccine

The U.S. Air Force has discharged 27 people for disobeying a Pentagon mandate that requires all members of the military – including active duty, National Guard and the Reserves – to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the AP reported. 

While the Air Force gave its forces until Nov. 2 to get vaccinated, thousands have either refused or sought an exemption. Those discharged are thought to represent the first service members to be administratively discharged for refusing to get the vaccine, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek noted on Monday.

According to Stefanek, all of those discharged were in their first term of enlistment and were thus younger, lower-ranking personnel. Although she did not disclose what type of discharge was applied to the service members, current legislation limits the military to giving troops an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions in vaccine refusal cases. None of the 27 sought any type of exemption – medical, administrative or religious – Stefanek added. 

As a result, they were formally removed from service for failure to obey an order. The spokeswoman said it is also possible that some of those discharged also had previous infractions on their records, but all had the vaccine refusal as one of the elements of their discharge.

Although the latest Air Force data shows that more than 1,000 airmen have refused the shot and more than 4,700 are seeking a religious exemption, as of Dec. 10, the Pentagon said that 96.4 percent of active duty personnel have gotten at least one shot – while only about 72 percent of the U.S. population 18 and older have gotten at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Last month, Oklahoma's Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state attorney general filed a federal lawsuit challenging the military vaccination mandate for the Oklahoma National Guard, arguing that the Pentagon is overstepping its constitutional authority. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promptly rejected the demand and insisted that guardsmen must be vaccinated in order to participate in federally funded trainings that would allow them to keep their military status.