© US Marine Corp
As of Thursday, a total of 103 Marines have been separated from the Corps for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the Marine Corps confirmed. The active duty Marine force had until Nov. 28 to be vaccinated or apply for an exemption. All who failed to meet that timeline will be administratively separated from the Marine Corps, according to a previously published administrative message.
Currently 95% of the active duty Marine Corps is partially or fully vaccinated and the Corps has approved 1,007 exemptions to the vaccine, Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine Corps spokesman, told
Marine Corps Times in an email.
Marines discharged solely for refusing the vaccine will receive either
an honorable or general discharge, according to provisions in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which passed Congress on Wednesday and is awaiting President Joe Biden's signature.
All approved exemptions have either been medical or administrative exemptions.A total of 3,144 Marines have applied for religious exemptions. As of Thursday, 2,863 have been processed and none have been approved, Stenger said in the email.
The Marine Corps has no records of approving religious exemptions for vaccines in the past 10 years,
Marine Corps Times previously reported. The Marine Corps currently has the lowest vaccination rate among the Department of Defense.
The
Air Force and Space Force had 96% of forces meet its Nov. 2 deadline, while the
Navy reported that 96.3% of active duty sailors were fully vaccinated
With the active duty
Army deadline passing on Wednesday, the service reported that 98% of its active duty force was fully vaccinated.
If total vaccination numbers do not increase, the Corps may end up administratively separating more than 8,000 Marines for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Comment: In the face of extreme coercion, those who exercised their right to refuse proved their bravery.
Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine Corps spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the service members were separated with the "vaccine refusal" discharge code. The move comes after the U.S. Air Force discharged 27 people for refusing to receive the vaccine.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered mandatory COVID vaccines for all U.S. military personnel in late August, ABC News reported. Members of the Marines had until Nov. 28 to get the shots, according to The Associated Press. Reserve members are facing a Dec. 28 deadline.
A spokesperson for the Marines said Thursday that 95% of its active-duty force of 182,500 members had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, the lowest percentage among the military services, ABC News reported. Stenger said while 94% are fully vaccinated, 84% of reservists are at least partially vaccinated and 81% are fully vaccinated.
The Marines have approved 1,007 medical and administrative exemptions and are still processing 2,863 of the 3,144 requests made for a religious exemption, told Marine Corps Times in an email.
According to the latest numbers provided by the Air Force and the Navy, 7,365 airmen and 5,472 sailors are unvaccinated. Those figures include personnel who have either refused the vaccine outright or are awaiting the processing of requests for administrative, medical, or religious exemptions.
Comment: In the face of extreme coercion, those who exercised their right to refuse proved their bravery.