AMERICANS Act to Protect Unvaccinated Service Members

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and thirteen other Republican senators announced a bill on April 10 they say will protect service members who have chosen not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The bill is the Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act of 2022. 

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Biden administration is trying to coerce our men and women in uniform to violate their conscience and religious beliefs, let alone on an issue as polarizing as the COVID-19 vaccine,” Sen. Cruz said in a press release. “The AMERICANS Act will ensure that these and similar efforts to politicize our military on this issue are blocked.”

The Pentagon announced plans on August 9, 2021, to require all service members to be vaccinated. Initial plans had threatened dishonorable discharges to soldiers who refused the shot, but that language changed during the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Soldiers currently dismissed are receiving either honorable discharges or general discharges under honorable conditions. 

According to reports by the Military Times, about 3,400 soldiers have been discharged as of April 27, 2022. The Marine Corps has discharged the most members, while the Air Force counts the least at 287. The newly created Space Force has had no discharges. 

“The Biden Administration trusted our men and women in uniform to risk their lives in service to our country, but not with personal medical decisions,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), one of the act’s sponsors.

“It is vindictive and wrong,” he said. “We need to protect these brave Americans and ensure they are treated with the respect they deserve.” 

The Pentagon has defended the decision to require vaccination, stating that operational readiness trumps the service members’ personal or religious beliefs. 

“To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force,” wrote Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd in an August 2021 memorandum announcing the requirement. “After careful consultation with medical experts and military leadership, and with the support of the President, I have determined that mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people.”

Through the NDAA, the COVID-19 vaccine was listed along with at least seventeen other vaccines that soldiers are required to receive. Service members were provided with the Pfizer vaccine while on-base. 

“I strongly support Secretary Austin’s message to the Force today on the Department of Defense’s plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for our service members not later than mid-September,” President Joe Biden said in a statement in August 2021. “Secretary Austin and I share an unshakable commitment to making sure our troops have every tool they need to do their jobs as safely as possible. These vaccines will save lives. Period. They are safe. They are effective.”

Despite the vaccines being considered largely safe within the medical community, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that Johnson & Johnson vaccine use be limited due to the risk of fatal blood clots. A manufacturing facility in Baltimore was also recently shuttered after repeated instances of contamination while manufacturing both the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines, which were covered up and hidden from inspectors.

The AMERICANS Act would require that, should the Armed Services choose to discharge a soldier, they do so commensurate with that individual’s service, make every effort to retain soldiers, and report the number of exemptions that are denied.