March 9, 2022
Last month, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled the Navy could not remove the officer from his post, despite superiors’ claims they had lost faith in his ability to lead as a result of his actions, saying the serviceman’s religious objections to the vaccine are protected by law.
The service has so far only handed out 12 permanent medical exemptions – along with 211 temporary ones – for the vaccine, as well as 39 administrative exemptions.
Navy brass have yet to hand out a religious exemption, despite receiving 3,472 religious exemption requests from active members.