AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials indicated Tuesday that thousands of National Guard members are refusing COVID-19 vaccines in the latest challenge against a Biden administration order that requires all members of the military to get one.
A lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton comes a week after a federal judge rejected a similar challenge brought by Oklahoma’s governor, amid growing Republican opposition to the vaccination mandate for Guard members.
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Texas has more than 20,000 National Guard members, the largest contingent of any state. About 40 percent of its Army National Guard are currently refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination “for either religious accommodation needs or otherwise,” according to the lawsuit filed in a federal court in East Texas.
It added that more than 200 airmen in the Texas Guard are also refusing the vaccine.
Other challenges to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to make vaccinations mandatory for all members of the military are playing out elsewhere. On Monday, another federal judge in Texas granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Navy from acting against 35 sailors for refusing on religious grounds to comply with the order.
For the servicemen who recently visited Whitefish, the opportunity to process their recent combat experience with other veterans was both healing and surreal.
The interdictions were just the latest in the volatile waters of the Persian Gulf.
The exercise, which has been in the works since 2020 and isn’t in response to rising tension with Russia, will place the Truman and its carrier strike group under NATO operational control.
Someone in his chain failed to ensure the junior sailor was squared away.
Roughly 315 kilograms of suspected cocaine were uncovered.
Military spouses have historically faced high rates of unemployment.
Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by DoD, nonprofit organizations and employers, but spouse unemployment is still high, advocacy group says.
The Baltic states have received approval from Washington to send American-made weaponry to Ukraine to help the country fend off a potential Russian invasion.
Expectations were low going in, and there was no breakthrough.
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