Military personnel have been told to prepare for mandatory receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine in September. The notice came in an update to a document called “HQDA EXORD 225-21, COVID-19 Steady State Operations,” according to Army Times.
An EXORD is an executive order issued by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Defense under a direct order from the U.S. president.
“Commanders will continue COVID-19 vaccination operations and prepare for a directive to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for service members [on or around] 01 September 2021, pending full FDA licensure,” the Army Times said the order said. “Commands will be prepared to provide a back brief on service member vaccination status and way ahead for completion once the vaccine is mandated.”
The news brought immediate backlash from some Congresspersons, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who introduced a bill with 23 cosponsors that would prohibit requiring service members to get the shot.
A similar action took place in 2003, when a federal judge ordered the Department of Defense to stop using U.S. soldiers as “guinea pigs for experimental drugs” with a new anthax vaccine which had not been approved or labeled for use against inhalational anthrax. At the time, six deaths and 105 serious adverse events were attributed to the vaccine.
“The ruling notes that Congress in 1998 forbade DoD to require troops to take INDs] [investigational new drug or drugs not approved for the intended use without the troops' informed consent,” according to CIDRAP. “Congress stipulated that only the president could suspend the consent requirement.”
And, apparently, by virtue of the EXORD regarding the COVID shot, that’s what President Biden has done.
SOURCES:
Army Times July 2, 2021
Yahoo! July 5, 2021
CIDRAP December 23, 2003
Military Factory EXORD Definition