Pentagon denies Oklahoma governor’s request and insists National Guard members must be vaccinated

By Ellie Kaufman and Oren Liebermann, CNN

Secretary of State Lloyd Austin denied a request from Oklahoma’s governor to exempt his state’s National Guard members from the Pentagon’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Austin emphasized that the vaccine mandate is a lawful order that promotes “the health, safety and readiness of our military personnel, regardless of duty status,” in the letter which CNN obtained a copy of.

The letter added that National Guard members who don’t get vaccinated could be banned from “participation in drills and training conducted,” and their status in the service could be jeopardized.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said no other governors have made similar requests during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.

Kirby reiterated points Austin made in the letter, saying not getting vaccinated could put National Guard members at risk of losing their status.

“So one could elect not to take the vaccine of course but then you would be putting at jeopardy your ability to stay in the national guard, which as you know is also a component of the reserve component in the total force,” Kirby said. “But in the specifics of how that would play out, I’d refer you in this case specifically to the Oklahoma national guard to speak to.”

This story is breaking and will be updated

The-CNN-Wire
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