Pentagon Furious Over Looming Vax Mandate Repeal

The Washington Post reports:

The looming reversal — spurred by Republicans who had threatened to block passage of the $858 billion spending bill if the mandate wasn’t struck down — creates a rat’s nest for the Pentagon.

Commanders whose job it was to enforce the mandate will face the onerous task of assessing whether — and how — to allow back into uniform those already separated from the military for refusing to follow orders.

Managing overseas deployments, especially in countries that require visitors to be vaccinated, will create burdensome logistical headaches as well, officials said. One senior defense official said that when service members “inevitability get sick, and if they should die, it will be on the Republicans who insisted upon this.”

Read the full article. The repeal is attached to the annual defense spending bill, making a veto by Biden unlikely.

New: DOD’s furor over the vax-mandate rollback

“I look like a clown now,” Said one Navy captain w/ 2,000+ sailors under his command. “I’ve been completely undercut in trying to uphold standards dictated to me.”

Via @DanLamothe @AlexHortonTX @karoun https://t.co/pMCVCbqUKD

— Andrew deGrandpré (@adegrandpre) December 8, 2022