WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge in Texas has granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Navy from acting against 35 sailors for refusing on religious grounds to comply with an order to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The injunction is a new challenge to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to make vaccinations mandatory for all members of the military.
The Pentagon vaccination requirement allows for exemptions on religious grounds, but none of the thousands of requests for such waivers so far have been granted. Well over 90% of the military has been vaccinated so far.
The plano non-profit First Liberty Institute is representing the sailors. Mike Berry is general counsel for the organization, telling WFAA-TV, “Thousands of religious exemptions that have been sought, they haven’t approved a single one; that is textbook discrimination.”
The suit bases objections on aborted fetal cells used in the development of vaccines. according to National Geographic, the cells are grown in labs from a few elective abortions about 30 years ago.
(Copyright 2022 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. This report contains material from the Dallas Morning News.)
