Army separating from its unvaccinated soldiers

The Army announced on Wednesday that will begin separating soldiers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Under a directive issued by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, commanders will begin involuntary administrative separations for soldiers who have refused to be vaccinated and don’t have a pending or approved exemption request.

“Army readiness depends on Soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” Wormuth said in a statement. “Unvaccinated Soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandated vaccinations for the military in late August but left it up to each service to implement its own deadlines. 

The Army gave active-duty soldiers until Dec. 15 to comply with the mandate, but Reservists and Army National Guard members still have until June 30 to be fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, service had yet to involuntary separate any soldiers solely for refusing the vaccine.

The Army has relieved six active-duty leaders — including two battalion commanders — for not complying with the mandate. It has also issued 3,073 written reprimands to soldiers who are not in compliance.

Ninety-seven percent of active-component Army troops are partially vaccinated, according to data released on Jan. 27, while 96 percent are fully inoculated. Additionally, 83 percent of reserve component forces are partially vaccinated, while 79 percent are fully vaccinated 

The Army has approved six of the 709 requests for medical exemptions it received in its active component, and has approved none of the 2,910 requests for religious exemptions.  

Wormuth’s order applies to regular Army soldiers, reserve-component soldiers on Title 10 active duty, and cadets.

The exception to this is for soldiers who will complete separation or retirement or begin their transition to leave on or before July 1. These soldiers will be granted an exemption so they can complete their separations or retirements.

Service members separated for not complying with the mandate won’t be eligible for involuntary separation pay and may be subject to “recoupment of any unearned special or incentive pays,” the Army said in a statement.