The military has discharged nearly 1,500 service members over the Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate, according to statistics released by the military services this week.
Those figures are likely to swell, as tens of thousands more service members have refused to take the vaccine.
The 1,480 figure does not even include figures from the Army, which has not released any discharge numbers since it announced in early February it would begin discharging unvaccinated soldiers.
The Marine Corps announced Thursday it has discharged 873 Marines, as of March 1. Only six religious exemptions have been granted. At least three of the Marines were already in the process of leaving the military.
The Navy announced this week it has separated 419 sailors. The service has not approved any religious exemption requests.
The Air Force said it has separated 188 active duty Airmen. It has approved 17 religious exemptions.
Thousands more in each service await a decision on their religious exemption requests.
The discharges are happening as the number of national deaths and hospitalizations from COVID have dropped dramatically from January. More cities and states are stepping away from COVID restrictions and mask mandates.
Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, and D.C. all dropped their mask mandates this week.
The Biden administration is still fighting to maintain its vaccine mandate for service members, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered in late August.
On Monday, an appeals court denied the government’s petition to stay an injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from punishing 35 Navy SEALs for religious objections to the vaccine.
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