The Marine Corps granted two religious exemption requests for the coronavirus vaccine, the service announced Thursday, marking the first time any such accommodation was affirmed despite thousands of requests.
Religious exemptions are hard to come by in the military. This is the first the Marines have granted in at least a decade, according to the Military Times. The lack of such accommodations as it relates to the coronavirus has also become a source of political division, a microcosm of the perpetual debate regarding whether mandating the vaccine comports with people’s First Amendment rights.
Even though each service branch has reached the mid-90th percentile in vaccination rate among active-duty troops, the select few who have refused, a count that is approximately in the tens of thousands, are finding allies on the political right.
MARINES GRANT TWO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS, MARKING FIRST ACROSS MILITARY BRANCHES
Dozens of Republican lawmakers and the America First Policy Institute, a policy group backed by former President Donald Trump, filed an amicus brief in support of a group of roughly three dozen Navy SEALs who successfully sued the Department of Defense alleging that their religious exemption requests were not legitimately considered before getting rejected.
During Thursday’s press briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby again declined to outline DOD’s next steps related to the judge’s decision.
Simultaneously, the Pentagon has received criticism from a group of Republican governors specifically taking exception with the mandate’s application to National Guards troops who are under each governor’s purview unless called up by the federal government. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt filed lawsuits on the matter, though the latter’s case was rejected and the former’s is still ongoing.
To date, 3,350 Marines have requested religious accommodations, while 3,212 have been processed and denied. The rest are still in the evaluation process.
Each service branch has its own review process for religious exemption requests. For Marines, the request is initially reviewed by the first lieutenant colonel commander, colonel commander, and commanding general in the applicant’s chain of command before it is then sent to the deputy commandant for the branch’s Manpower and Reserve Affairs, per the Military Times.
Then, a three-person panel within the Manpower and Reserve Affairs reviews the request before providing a recommendation to the deputy commandant. Should the request be denied and the applicant appeal, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps would personally review the case before making a final decision.
“Each request will be given full consideration with respect to the facts and circumstances submitted in the request,” the Marine Corps wrote in its statement updating the coronavirus statistics within the branch. “Adjudication Authorities pay particular attention to how religious accommodation request determinations will impact the Marine’s and unit’s ability to accomplish the mission, and consider the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest.”
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Back in November, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger cited “disinformation” as the main reason behind the vaccine refusals.
The force is being “challenged by disinformation … that still swirls around about where the genesis, how did this vaccine get approved, is it safe, is it ethical — all that swirls around on the internet, and they see all that, they read all that,” he said at a forum.
