Three cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy who have opted not to get the jab will not be commissioned as military officers and they may be forced to reimburse the United States for education costs, according to the Academy.
Academy spokesman Dean Miller said that a fourth cadet, who did not want to take the vaccine ultimately decided to the jab in order to become an Air Force officer.
Miller saying that the three cadets who opted out of getting the jab “will not be commissioned into the United States Air Force as long as they remain unvaccinated.”
He added that the decision on whether to force the cadets to reimburse the United States for education costs – which could be as high as $200,000 – will be made by the secretary of the Air Force.
As of Saturday, the Air Force is the only military academy, so far, where cadets are not being commissioned due to vaccine refusal. All of the more than 1,000 Army cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduated and were commissioned as officers earlier in the day and all were vaccinated.
The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, said Saturday that none of the Navy or Marine Corps seniors there are being prevented from commissioning due to vaccine refusals. That graduation is later this week, and the Air Force ceremony is Wednesday in Colorado. Ahead of that ceremony, the U.S. Air Force Academy Board conducted its standard review of whether this year’s class had met all graduation requirements on Friday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is the scheduled speaker at the Air Force graduation, last year made the COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for service members, including those at the military academies, saying the vaccine is critical to maintaining military readiness and the health of the force.
Members of Congress, the military, and the public have questioned if the exemption reviews by the military services have been fair. There have been multiple lawsuits filed against the mandate, mainly centering on the fact that very few service members have been granted religious exemptions from the shots.
Lt. Col. Brian Maguire, an Air Force Academy spokesman, said a week ago that all four of the cadets had been informed of the potential consequences and met with the academy’s superintendent. And he noted then that they still had time before graduation to change their minds.
Across the military, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have discharged as many as 4,000 active duty service members for opting not to get the jab.
According to the military, as many as 20,000 service members have asked for religious exemptions. Very few have been approved.
