The United States Department of Defense announced that it is formally ending the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all US armed forces. 

US Congressman Zach Nunn is a combat aviator veteran that served in the Air Force and was deployed three times in the Middle East after 9/11. Nunn supports this measure and discredits the federal government for ever putting this mandate into effect. He explains that in some cases military and service members were the first ones to provide aid to citizens that had the virus. 

“I think it is tragic that the federal government would strip those Guardsmen and military members of their due retirement, some of them in 19 years in my own unit, who were pulled away from that despite the fact that they were the first ones selflessly to serve. So this is not only the right thing to do, I would go even further and say we need to restore the pay for those brave men and women who are on the front line of fighting COVID and protecting our communities.”

Nunn adds that in 2022, the Department of Defense dismissed approximately 8,400 active-duty servicemembers, roughly 37,000 National Guardsmen and 22,000 reserve soldiers for refusing the vaccine and they were also stripped of their military benefits and pay.