Around 8,500 active-duty US Air Force troops did not meet the 2 November deadline for getting vaccinated, with almost 5,000 of them seeking a religious exemption and 800 refusing to get inoculated at all, according to statistics released by the Air Force on Wednesday.
Still, the data shows that 95.9% of active-duty personnel and 90.5% of those in reserve are fully vaccinated.
“Our Airmen need to be prepared to operate anytime, anywhere in the world”, said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. “Getting vaccinated ensures we are a ready force to meet our commitments to the nation while protecting the health of our team and families”.
It was revealed that 4,933 troops are seeking a religious exemption, even though the statistics show that there were no such requests approved as of Wednesday, with 1,634 people receiving a medical exemption and 232 getting an administrative one.
The sudden enthusiasm for religious exemptions comes amid heated debates over the issue, with some branches of the US military being accused of attempting to undermine such exemptions. Particularly, Fox News in September reported on a memo from the US Coast Guard that appeared to instruct chaplains to scrutinise every request for a religious exemption, asking additional questions aimed at finding out whether the members "keep the tenets of their faith".
Such an approach was dubbed as a "modern-day Inquisition" that displays "religious hostility" in the military.
Amid the debate, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for Military Services in the US issued a statement saying that while receiving the COVID vaccines "does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion, and is therefore not sinful", one still has the right to refuse to get vaccinated in case they feel it would violate the sanctity of their conscience.
With the Air Force vaccination deadlines being one of the strictest in the US military, reports emerged earlier in October suggesting that around 12,000 servicemen who are unwilling to get the jab may leave service due to the vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration.