The Pentagon recently has urged soldiers to get vaccinated, but the congressional Republicans disagree with these urges. According to UsNews.com, “The Pentagon has rejected assertions from a leading Republican overseeing the Defense Department’s budget and policies that the administration’s controversial mandate for all troops to receive the coronavirus vaccine. The congressional Republicans said ‘this will do more damage to the nation’s security than any external threat.'”

Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The letter said “The Pentagon’s vaccine mandate for all uniformed troops, Defense Department civilians and private contractors be immediately suspended.” He argued that the orders were “unclear, uncertain, and needlessly harmful”. Cited reports say that tens of thousands of department personnel may not be able or not willing to comply with the order, a prospect he considers dangerous and expensive, UsNews.com reports.

Pentagon officials have in recent months taken an empathetic and gentler tone when asking about the consequences of troops disobeying orders to receive the vaccine, saying “at first the responsibility lies with unit commanders to address the concerns of their subordinates.” That has shifted as each service begins to disclose their plans for punishing those who continue to refuse the Covid vaccine as deadlines are getting closer, forcing the military to choose to get the vaccine or lose their jobs, which is wrong. Soldiers sign over all their rights to serve for the country and the country decides for them to either get vaccinated or lose their jobs. UsNews.com