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Oklahoma has filed a new version of its lawsuit opposing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, naming 10 Guardsmen as plaintiffs.
The state had previously sought to allow those Guardsmen to remain anonymous. They were among 16 unnamed airmen who were part of an original lawsuit filed in December. But a federal judge earlier this month ruled that public interest in the case overrode privacy concerns.
At least two other states, Texas and Alaska, have filed lawsuits in an attempt to stop enforcement of the mandate. And many observers believe the issue could eventually be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Oklahoma, the 10 airmen joining the state in challenging the mandate include three raising religious and secular reasons, according to The Oklahoman. One of the airmen is a physician.
They represent a minority of the Oklahoma Air Guard, which has a 97% vaccination rate, according to the state. Air Guard members who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are barred from training and are not being paid.
The lawsuit identifies the airmen as “patriots who always have given of themselves to their Country and their State; and are now at risk of being turned out of their jobs because they do not wish to take the vaccine.”
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., has called for the mandate to be suspended for the military, after judges halted mandates for private employees and civilian contractors. Inhofe is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, Inhofe said the Pentagon was failing to adapt to the current situation.
“Since October, the Department has proceeded with separations for hundreds of service members, despite the fact it takes about $60,000 to $90,000 to onboard new soldiers and prepare them to join their first unit,” he said. “We cannot afford to waste millions of dollars on replacing service members during this time of historic inflation and unprecedented threats around the world.”
While leaders in Oklahoma, Texas and Alaska are pushing against the mandate, more than 60 individual service members have also joined lawsuits, according to Military Times.
They have argued the military has infringed upon their 1st Amendment rights, citing religious beliefs and the few religious exemptions awarded under the current exemption process.
One lawsuit in Florida states plaintiffs “have been convicted by the Holy Spirit that accepting any of the three currently available vaccines in against the teachings of scripture and would be a sin,” Military Times reported.
In addition to the Florida case, another lawsuit was filed in Texas, with its plaintiffs including a group of Navy SEALs.
Judges in both cases have granted injunctions against any discipline for vaccine refusal.
The Texas lawsuit centers on objections that fall into one of four categories, including the opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in development of the vaccines, a belief that body modification violates their religious principles, “divine instruction not to receive the vaccine” or declining to inject animal cells into one’s body, the newspaper reported.
No actual fetal cells were used in the development of any COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, researchers cultivate fetal stem cells, which may or may not have originated with an aborted pregnancy, for generations.
Other required vaccines, including chicken pox, rubella and hepatitis A, were also developed using descendant fetal cells, Military Times reported. Common medications have also been developed using those stem cells, including Tylenol, Advil/Motrin, aspirin, Benadryl, Sudafed and Claritin.
Other lawsuits are also underway, with a federal judge last week granting an injunction against discipline of an Air Force officer whose religious exemptions had been denied in Georgia.
In addition, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has become the latest governor to write Austin asking that the Pentagon rethink the federal vaccine mandate for members of the National Guard.
He said his state will not punish Guardsmen who refuse to get vaccinated.
