Troops Who Refuse COVID Vaccines Won’t Be Guaranteed Veterans Benefits

Troops who refuse the coronavirus vaccine won’t see any extra protections or leniency in how their dismissals are handled, Defense and Veterans Affairs officials confirmed Wednesday.

Instead, decisions on whether to give those individuals other-than-honorable discharges — potentially blocking them from a host of veterans benefits — will be left to local commanders, and their cases won’t receive any preferential evaluations for veterans’ benefits eligibility, despite recent lobbying from Republicans lawmakers for a less punishing approach.

“We see the vaccine as a readiness issue,” said Gil Cisneros, Defense Department undersecretary for personnel, during testimony before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Any discharge decision is up to the individual service as to how they proceed with that.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Air Force and Space Force officials announced that about 8,500 airmen missed the Nov. 2 deadline to get the coronavirus vaccine. That represents about 3 percent of the services’ total personnel. (Read more from “Troops Who Refuse COVID Vaccines Won’t Be Guaranteed Veterans Benefits” HERE)

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