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The U.S. Air Force has discharged 27 members after they refused to comply with the military branch's vaccine mandate.
These 27 members are currently considered to be the first throughout the U.S. military to be discharged due to the vaccine requirement. The Air Force gave its members until November 2 to be fully vaccinated, unless a medical or religious exemption was approved.
All discharged members were described as young and low-ranking, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanekm, and none of them sought any exemptions for vaccination. Since the COVID-19 vaccine mandate is considered to be an order by the Air Force, the members were discharged for disobeying an order. The identities of those discharged have not been released.
Around 4,700 exemptions filed by Air Force members are currently being processed. More than 1,000 members have refused to follow the vaccination mandate.
This news comes after the Pentagon recently revealed that they are considering mandating booster shots for their vaccinated members. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on December 10 that all members should get a booster shot against COVID-19 "if they can and if they qualify."
Although the Air Force is the first military branch to discharge members for not complying with the mandate, it might not be the last. Over 11,000 members of the Air National Guard and Reserve were reported earlier this month as missing the vaccination deadline. Among that number, around 2,000 refused to get the vaccine while another 3,000 said they have not started vaccinating but plan to.
Around 97 percent of the Air Force's current members have gotten at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
While the Air Force does not disclose what type of discharge a service member gets, legislation working its way through Congress limits the military to giving troops in vaccine refusal cases an honorable discharge or general discharge under honorable conditions.
The Pentagon earlier this year required the vaccine for all members of the military, including active duty, the National Guard and the Reserves. Each of the services sets its own deadlines and procedures for the mandate, and the Air Force sets the earliest deadline. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the vaccine is critical to maintaining the health of the force and its ability to respond to a national security crisis.
It is not unusual for members of the military to be thrown out of the service for disobeying an order—discipline is a key tenet of the armed services. As a comparison, Stefanek said that in the first three quarters of 2021, about 1,800 airmen were discharged for failure to follow orders.
Several officials from the other services said they believe that so far only the Air Force has gotten this far along in the process and discharged people over the vaccine refusal.
Stefanek said it is also possible that some had other infractions on their records, but all had the vaccine refusal as one of the elements of their discharge.
Members of the Navy and the Marine Corps had until November 28 to get the shots and their Reserve members have until December 28. Army active-duty soldiers have until Wednesday, and members of the Army National Guard and the Reserves have the most time to be vaccinated, with a deadline of next June 30.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
