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The Navy will no longer consider COVID-19 vaccination status when making decisions about sailor deployments – a reversal of more than a year of service policy, according to new Navy guidance released this week.
COVID-19 vaccination status cannot be considered when determining if someone can be deployed, according to the new standardized guidance for COVID-19, released as a NAVADMIN in response to a Congressional action that removed the requirement as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet jet flies over the USS Gerald R. Ford. (REUTERS/Erik Hildebrandt-US Navy)
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"Commanders should seek advice from medical providers regarding medical readiness of personnel to inform deployment and other operational mission decisions," according to NAVADMIN 38/23. "COVID-19 vaccination status shall not be a consideration in assessing individual service member suitability for deployment or other operational missions."
The new guidance is consistent with that from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday told reporters Thursday at West 2023, hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who oppose a COVID-19 vaccination requirement on religious grounds want a federal appeals court to keep alive their legal fight against the Biden administration. Congress voted to end the requirement in Dec. 2022, however, vaccine opponents note that commanders can still make decisions on how and whether to deploy unvaccinated troops, under a memo signed last month by Defense Secretary Austin. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
"I would tell you that we will continue to monitor very closely our fleet concentration areas with respect to COVID levels… particularly if there’s a new strain of COVID, we want to make sure that we have enough of the supplies on board like masks and those kinds of things that if we have to revert back to the way we’re doing things before the vaccine," Gilday said.
The guidance also makes it so there is no distinction between sailors who are vaccinated and non-vaccinated. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said that a repeal of the mandate would create two classes of sailors, those who were vaccinated and those who were not.
The NAVADMIN does not include guidance on reinstating sailors separated from the Navy who refused COVID-19 vaccinations during the mandate.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) in a photo exercise with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matt Brown)
Mike Berry, Director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute, who represents 35 Navy SEALS, told Fox News Digital that this is "an encouraging step."
"We are still assessing the impact of this policy on our Navy SEAL clients and more than 4000 class members," said Berry. "But this is an encouraging step towards ensuring the Navy does not continue to discriminate against sailors who sought religious exemptions from the Covid vaccine requirement. We are hopeful that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will uphold religious liberty within America’s military. First Liberty will not stop fighting until we have complete assurance that the Navy will respect religious liberty."
Fox News' Kelly Laco and USNI News contributed to this report.
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