FILE - An Army Preventive Medicine Specialist administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a soldier on Sept. 9, 2021, in Fort Knox, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images) U.S.
Army commanders have relieved six soldiers from positions of leaderships and issued 2,994 general officer written reprimands in response to soldiers who have refused to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination order.Among the six relieved from leadership positions were two battalion commanders, the Army said in a Wednesday press release.
But the service so far has not involuntarily discharged any soldiers solely for refusing the vaccine.The Army will be issuing guidance for discharging vaccine holdouts later this month, with the press release saying that 3,611 soldiers are still refusing to get the vaccine and have not received an approved exemption.RELATED: Marine Corps removes 206 service members for refusing to get COVID-19 vaccineSo far 96% of soldiers in the active duty component have complied with the mandatory vaccine order, while 73% of soldiers in the reserve component have gotten the jab.
The Army has also approved five medical exemptions of the 653 that were submitted while denying the medical exemption requests of 595 soldiers.