Rep Massie to Introduce Bill to Make COVID Vaccine Optional for Those in the Armed Services As the Department of Defense Continues to Encourage The Vaccine

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced his intentions to produce a bill that will prevent members of the armed services from being forced to recive the COVID-19 vaccine, citing that “federal health policy ignoring science” and how he beliefs natural immunity occurs from prior infection.

I will soon introduce a bill to prevent members of the armed services from being forced to receive the COVID vaccine. Those who set federal health policy are ignoring science. For instance, they refuse to recognize natural immunity from prior infection.https://t.co/t8pp2sTemD

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 14, 2021

Massie’s tweet linked an article on CBS covering how the CDC is planning an “emergency meeting” to discuss how there are high reports of heart inflammation occurring in patients recently vaccinated. This emergency meeting will be held on June 18th, with all CDC advisers attending. At this time, there have been 226 reported cases in which patients are found with health conditions like myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Most of these patients have recovered while 59 of them are either still experiencing symptoms, hospitalized, or in the ICU. More details and reports will emerge in the following weeks.

Texas State Rep. Chip Roy also announced his support and co-sponsoring of this bill on Twitter.

I will soon be a co-sponsor of this legislation by my friend @RepThomasMassie. https://t.co/jhnqDTZKuB

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 14, 2021

The Biden administration has not said anything hinting at plans to mandate the vaccine for the armed forces, however, it has not been ruled out completely. In late April, President Biden told NBC that he “doesn’t know” if he would force the vaccine, saying “it’s a tough call” and that he’d “leave it to the military”. As of April 28th, the Department of Defense gas administrated over 2.7 million vaccines, which is 23% of the total U.S. troops.

In late March the DoD released a statement, announcing their intentions to have the entire armed forces vaccinated by the first of May:

“Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director of the Defense Health Agency said that depending on the rate at which the DOD can get vaccines, and the uptake rate — that’s the number of personnel who step forward to get vaccinated — it’s possible that by early summer, every person in the DOD could be vaccinated.

‘Based on the projections that we have, both supply side and vaccination side, we do fully expect to be open to all … of our DOD eligible populations on or before the first of May,’ Place said. ‘At current uptake rates for those who want to get it, we think by the middle of July or so … the department will be vaccinated.'”

The DOD plans to keep its commitment to make the #COVID19Vaccine available to every military beneficiary by early summer. This is in line with @POTUS’ objective of 200 million vaccinations in 100 days: https://t.co/sAJhSstOLW.

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) April 3, 2021

On May 20th, The Department of Defense reported high growth of vaccinations since their last April report previously mentioned. As of April 28th, 23% of the troops had been vaccinated and on May 20th, the DoD reported that 58% of active-duty troops had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Stay tuned to Media Right News for any updates.