As COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates are rescinded across the U.S. — whether under court order or in acquiescence to changing political winds — the Pentagon is counting on a combination of litigation and administrative evasion to maintain its policy of forcing COVID vaccination on religious objectors in the military.
Even New York and some Michigan schools are lifting their mask mandates, while Washington, D.C. is keeping theirs for schools while ending the vaccine and indoor mask mandates. But the Air National Guard is still looking for a way to enforce its COVID vaccine mandate against those filing "religious accommodation requests" (RARs) in pursuit of exemptions.
In an email sent Tuesday to state and wing JAGs, Brig. Gen. Sue Ellen Schuerman (assistant to the general counsel, National Guard Bureau-Air, Washington, D.C.) said the court decision in Air Force Officer v. Austin et al "reiterated the need for individualized assessment of RAR requests."
In that February ruling in favor of an officer whose RAR was denied, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia granted the first preliminary injunction against the Air Force's vaccine mandate.
