By Sgt. James D. Muhammad, a Marine Corps veteran, and Col. Thomas L. Rempfer, an Air Force retiree
Over the past year American troops who exercised their legally protected medical rights were wrongfully sidelined over COVID vaccine mandates. Some were discharged while others had their careers stalled.
They should all be made whole.
These troops deserve fully reinstated careers, ASAP! The first step is the recent legislative action by Congress which halted the military vaccine mandate via the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023. The president signed it into law and the military stated it will “fully comply.”
American service members have been down this road before. Almost 20 years ago, the mandatory anthrax vaccine program was halted after federal courts found its licensing unlawful.
Subsequently, the first-ever application of the Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, law served as an interim fix to provide anthrax vaccine on a voluntary basis to troops until the FDA properly completed the licensure.
This inaugural EUA is the intersection with COVID vaccine mandates. Unfortunately, the optional consent precedent was ignored for troops and all Americans when EUA COVID vaccine mandates began nationwide in 2021. Fortunately, most mandates were declared illegal or halted through injunctions.
The federal court only allowed optional EUA anthrax vaccine to be offered to our troops with their “prior consent.” After being taken to task in court, the military also acceded to “no penalty,” no loss of entitlement, no punishment, and guaranteed troops would “still be deployable.” The precedent is memorialized in the Federal Register.
The Code of Federal Regulations further affirms this language in Title 21, Section 50.25, regarding human protection and informed consent, where “consequences” pertain to medical issues. . . . . (read more)
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