Efforts to impose reactions on the unvaccinated are well under way in all US arms, officials said. As many as 20,000 can be fired.
The management of the Marine Corps states that 103 people have so far been removed for refusing to be vaccinated. The army has issued reprimands to 2,700 people, and dismissals are expected to begin in January.
In the Air Force, 27 dismissals have so far been sent out. The Navy is in the process of finalizing the regulations and the process in the time ahead.
Warnings
Military leaders have for several months warned that the employees in the defense will be met with reactions if they do not follow the order to be vaccinated. But only last week it was announced that these warnings have been followed up with concrete measures.
It is currently very unclear how many are at risk of being fired, but according to the management in the arms branches, there are at least 30,000 who can not be vaccinated. But thousands of these have been granted a temporary or permanent exemption by a doctor.
Of the around 20,000 that remain, many thousands have submitted applications that are being processed and many who categorically refuse to be vaccinated. Around 12,000 people refuse for religious reasons.
Calculated risk
All in all, the unvaccinated, no matter where they are in the process of escaping vaccination, make up about 1.3 percent of the 1.3 million active civil servants and women in the U.S. military.
The fact that notices of dismissal are now put into effect is described as a calculated risk. It is assumed that the number of dismissed poses a lesser threat to the military’s preparedness than the prospect of the unvaccinated triggering a widespread spread of infection among the employees.
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