WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – On Tuesday a group of Republican Congressmen led by Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to reconsider the Department of Defense’s (DOD) COVID jab mandate in light of new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
“Recently, the CDC released an updated set of guidelines that make no distinction between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated,” the letter states. “The new guidelines remove testing requirements from those not experiencing symptoms and removes rules for regular testing, except in high-risk environments.”
The congressmen also noted their worry about the military failing to meet recruitment goals for fiscal year 2022, noting that the Army alone will likely fall short 19,000 soldiers.
“To ensure the continued safety and readiness of our country’s bravest men and women and to reflect the most up to date guidelines released by the CDC, we request that the military immediately reverse its COVID-19 vaccination requirement for all military personnel and civilian contractors,” the letter concludes. “We also request that those who were unfairly forced to separate from the military be given the option to be reinstated with back pay.”
Other signers of the letter include Reps. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Ben Cline of Virginia.
Earlier this month, the CDC changed its COVID guidelines. According to the new guidelines, individuals exposed to someone with COVID-19 do not need to isolate themselves if they do not have any symptoms. The CDC acknowledged that some people are not at a significant risk of infection due to natural immunity, which studies have shown to be more effective at fighting the Wuhan virus than the jabs. The sprawling bureaucracy whose “recommendations” were used by employers and schools to force many Americans to take shots they did not want also acknowledged COVID is likely here to stay like other diseases like the flu.
The new rules now treat those “who are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccines” the same as those “who are up to date on COVID-19 vaccines.”
Woke Pentagon policies are purging patriots from our military and leading to recruitment shortages approaching the level of national security crisis. With the government’s own science no longer justifying a military vaccine mandate, Secretary Austin must side with servicemembers. https://t.co/0zG6PQut5Y
— Rep. Barry Moore (@RepBarryMoore) August 23, 2022
“With updated CDC guidance for the unvaccinated, the Department of Defense’s final fig leaf justifying its purge of patriots for refusing vaccination has been stripped away,” Moore told the Daily Caller before sending the letter. “During a time of global turmoil and missed recruitment targets reaching the level of a national security crisis, the military has absolutely no justification for sacrificing readiness in favor of virtue signaling and the appeasement of this administration’s political base.”
READ: Florida congressman fears COVID vaccine mandate could ‘cripple’ National Guard
“The military vaccine mandate must end, and all our service members so cruelly separated due to this disastrous policy must be rehired with full backpay,” Moore added.
The Pentagon ordered all active duty military personnel to get the jab last August. In December, the military began discharging soldiers for refusing the shots, and has refused payment and retirement benefits for National Guardsmen and Army reservists that refused the jab. The discharges, which threaten to significantly deplete the manpower of America’s armed forces, have prompted legal challenges that have so far been neglected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Army has further been reluctant to issue any religious exemption for the jab, giving only 20 exemptions out of about 8,000 requests, and National Guardsmen and reservists who have refused the jab have not been allowed to attend drills and training exercises as of July 1.
This is not the first time Moore or other members of Congress wrote about the mandate.
Shortly after Austin ordered all active military personnel to submit to the jab, Moore and other Congressmen wrote to Austin asking for an “immediate delay” of the mandate. In February, Moore joined other members of Congress in a letter to Austin stating that the DOD needed to immediately stop involuntary discharges of servicemen for refusing to take the jab.
Last month, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida noted in an op-ed for FOX News arguing that the mandate could pose a national security risk as a result of its impact on the National Guard and the Army Reserve, noting that a resulting depletion of servicemen could put the country at risk of attack and natural disasters.
Last September, several Republican Congressmen introduced legislation that would prohibit federal agencies from imposing vaccine mandates.
COVID shots do not stop the spread of COVID, and have been connected to serious side effects.
READ: Multiple-vaxxed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tests positive for COVID-19 a second time
Data from the Pentagon’s Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) has shown that 2021 saw drastic spikes in a variety of diagnoses for serious medical issues over the previous five-year average, including hypertension (2,181%), neurological disorders (1,048%), multiple sclerosis (680%), Guillain-Barre syndrome (551%), breast cancer, (487%), female infertility (472%), pulmonary embolism (468%), migraines (452%), ovarian dysfunction (437%), testicular cancer (369%), and tachycardia (302%).
LifeSiteNews reached out to the DOD for comment but has yet to receive a response.