GOP Senators Agitate for Vote To Repeal Vaccine Mandate for Troops

A group of Republican senators said they would try to block the annual defense policy bill unless they’re allowed to vote on repealing the Defense Department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“I think the policy of discharging people simply because they refuse to get this vaccine at this time makes no sense,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday during a press conference at the Capitol. “We in Congress have the ability to change this policy…I want to urge DOD to change your policy. It literally is insane, I think, to drive men and women out of the military at a time [when] we have recruiting shortages because of a refusal to take this vaccine.”

The Pentagon mandated the coronavirus vaccine for all troops in August 2021, just after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer vaccine. As of Oct. 25, more than two million service members had been fully vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine is just one of the shots required for troops. 

The senators repeatedly questioned the wisdom of the controversial mandate during a military recruiting crisis.