14% of Marine reservists unvaccinated as deadline passes

As the deadline for Marine Corps reservists to get vaccinated against the coronavirus passed on Tuesday, only 86% of the force been partially or fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

While active duty Marines had until Nov. 28 to be fully vaccinated and reservists were given a deadline of Dec. 28, 14% still remain unvaccinated, according to a Marine Corps release.

Around 95% of the active duty force were vaccinated by the deadline, while another 1,000 received either a medical or administrative exemption, the release stated.

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As deadline approaches, Marines are the military’s least vaccinated force

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By Philip Athey

Marines who opt out of vaccinations will be administratively separated for failure to obey an order, a previous administrative message noted.

Those discharges are required to be either honorable or general under honorable conditions due to a measure in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The Marine Corps has discharged 206 Marines since the Nov. 28 active duty deadline passed.

More than 3,000 Marines applied for religious exemptions to the vaccine. So far, the Corps has denied 3,115 and is still processing another 132 religious exemptions, Capt. Andrew Wood, a Marine Corps spokesman, said in a statement.

The Corps has no prior record of approving any vaccine-related religious exemptions in the past 10 years.

In total, around 8,000 active duty Marines and 5,000 Marine reservists may face separation for refusing to receive a vaccine against COVID-19.

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