October 17, 2021 Updated: October 17, 2021
A civilian contractor receives a COVID-19 vaccine from Preventative
Medicine Services in Fort Knox, Ky., on Sept. 9, 2021. (Jon Cherry/Getty
Images) Service
members from all five branches of the U.S. military, federal employees, and
federal civilian contractors have joined in a class-action lawsuit against
the Department of Defense over its COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The
24 plaintiffs “face a deadline under the Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate to
receive a COVID-19 vaccine that violates their sincerely held religious
beliefs, and have been refused any religious exemption or accommodation,”
according to Liberty Counsel, the Christian legal firm that filed the lawsuit. The
lawsuit (pdf), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle
District of Florida, lists President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd
Austin, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as defendants. The
plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order (pdf) to prevent the COVID-19 vaccine mandates from taking
effect, and ultimately issue an injunction to prevent the Pentagon
from enforcing the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Biden
on Sept. 9 issued an executive order requiring almost all federal
employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment. Regular
testing isn’t an option. Civilian federal employees and contractors have until
Nov. 22 to be fully vaccinated. Austin
issued a memorandum on Aug. 24 saying that all military service members must
receive a COVID-19 vaccine, after which all the branches of the military announced various deadlines for its troops to be fully
vaccinated, regardless of whether they had previously survived a bout of
COVID-19, and threatening suspensions or other disciplinary actions if service
members don’t have a pending exemption request or fail to comply. The
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have set a Nov. 28 deadline for their active-duty service
members; reservists have until Dec. 28. For the Army and the Air Force, the deadlines for active-duty service members
are Dec. 15 and Nov. 2, respectively, and deadlines for National Guard and
Reserve members are June 30, 2022, and Dec. 2, 2021, respectively.
U.S. Coast Guard members have until Nov. 22 to be fully vaccinated. “Plaintiffs
have demonstrated their commitments to the United States Constitution and the
Nation’s future comfort, security, and prosperity. This Court should demand
that the Nation return the favor. Telling Plaintiffs they must accept or
receive a shot they oppose according to their sincerely held religious beliefs,
or face court martial, dishonorable discharge, and other life altering
disciplinary measures, disgraces the sacrifices these heroes have
made,” attorneys wrote in the filing, adding that relief is “needed now”
to “prevent the immediate and irreparable injury” imposed by the vaccine mandates. A
Pentagon spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We do not comment on
ongoing litigation.” “The
Biden administration has no authority to require the COVID shots for the
military or for federal employees or civilian contractors. Nor can the Biden
administration pretend that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and
the First Amendment do not apply to its unlawful mandates,” Liberty
Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement. “The Commander-in-Chief must end this
shameful treatment and abuse of our brave military heroes. Forcing the COVID
shots without consent or consideration for their sincere religious beliefs is
illegal.” White
House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for
comment. Religious Exemption Requests Denied,
Suit Claims The
lawsuit notes that many of its 24 plaintiffs have had their requests for
religious exemption denied, while other plaintiffs “have been
threatened with dishonorable discharge, court martial, termination, or
other life-altering disciplinary measures” for seeking such exemptions. “Some
of these Plaintiffs have been informed by their superiors that no religious
exemption or accommodation will be given, so there is no point in even making a
request,” attorneys said in the filing. The
suit said that Vice Admiral William Galinis, commander of Naval Sea
Systems Command, on Oct. 14 issued a warning to his entire command of more than
85,000 civilian and military personnel, saying, “The Executive Order mandating
vaccinations for all federal employees has provided clear direction. We are
moving quickly toward a workforce where vaccinations are a condition of
employment. Frankly, if you are not vaccinated, you will not work for the U.S.
Navy.” A
Navy spokeswoman declined to comment last week when asked whether any religious
or medical exemptions had been approved. The
three currently available COVID-19 vaccines are the one-dose vaccine from
Johnson & Johnson, and the two-dose vaccines from Moderna and
Pfizer-BioNTech. “Plaintiffs’
sincerely held religious beliefs preclude them from accepting any one of the
three currently available COVID-19 vaccines derived from, produced or
manufactured by, tested on, developed with, or otherwise connected to aborted
fetal cell lines,” the suit argued, subsequently providing evidence that
aborted fetal cell lines were involved in certain stages of development of all
three vaccines. “Plaintiffs’
religious beliefs compel them to not condone, support, justify, or benefit
(directly or indirectly) from the taking of innocent human life via abortion,
and that to do so is sinning against God,” attorneys wrote. Attorneys
are asking the court to declare that the federal COVID-19 vaccine
mandate on the plaintiffs is unlawful because it violates the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the federal Religious Freedom
Restoration Act by “imposing a substantial burden on Plaintiffs’ sincerely held
religious beliefs.” EUA Products Cannot Be Mandated:
Attorneys Attorneys
argued in the suit that no COVID-19 vaccine is available in the United States
that has received full licensing and approval from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, and as such, cannot be mandated. Austin,
in his memo on Aug. 24 (pdf), stated that the mandatory vaccinations “will only use
COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the [FDA] in accordance
with FDA-approved labeling and guidance,” attorneys noted, arguing that
“additional military documents reveal that the Department of Defense is not
following its own directive” and is using vaccines under emergency use
authorization [EUA] “because there is no FDA approved vaccine available.” Austin’s
memo came a day after the FDA issued full approval for future Pfizer–BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccines, which will bear the Comirnaty label. The latter vaccine
wasn’t available in the United States as of Oct. 12, The Epoch Times reported previously. The
attorneys argued that explicit statutory
conditions for an EUA require that people are given “the option to accept
or refuse administration” of a given unapproved product that has been
authorized for emergency use. According
to the lawsuit, “Because all COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States
are subject to the EUA Statute restrictions and limitations, all
individuals—including military service members, federal employees, and federal
civilian contractors—have the explicit right under the EUA Statute to accept or
refuse administration of the products.” Attorneys
asked the court to declare the vaccine mandate as unlawful because it violates
the EUA provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act “by imposing a
mandatory COVID-19 shot upon Plaintiffs without giving the ‘option to accept or
refuse’ the EUA product.” Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
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