SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Sunday marks the vaccination deadline for those serving in both the Navy and Marine Corps.
But according to the latest numbers, the Marines have the lowest vaccination rate among all branches of military, with as many as 10,000 active members still not fully vaccinated.
Earlier this month, the Marines' top general and his senior enlisted adviser posted a video message to Twitter, urging Marines who hadn't done so yet, to get vaccinated.
"We don't have extra Marines. We're a pretty small force and we have to make sure everyone is ready to go all the time...that's our job," said Commandant David H. Berger.
The deadline is Sunday, November 28, 2021. According to the latest official numbers, 94% of Marines will be fully vaccinated by then. But for the remaining six percent, it's too late to begin or complete the regimen.
"The issue is does the Secretary of Defense have the authority to order military members to take a vaccine?" said Jeffrey Meeks, a retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, and attorney specializing in military law.
Meeks says the vaccine mandate is an official order, one nearly everyone in the military must follow, or they'll likely be let go.
"It's a lawful order. There's not going to be many if any exceptions granted. If you decide to disobey the order then most likely you're going to be administratively separated or disciplined and separated by disciplinary means," said Meeks.
Those choosing not to get vaccinated can seek a medical or religious exemption, but Meeks says very few will be granted. Take the Navy for example, they've granted six permanent medical exemptions and no religious exemptions for any vaccine in the last seven years.
"The religious exemption is probably the one most frequent and they haven't been granted. There's only a few I've heard about and even in those situations, if it renders a person non worldwide deployable, then likely they'll be separated for good of service," said Meeks.
So, what happens after the Sunday deadline?
Guidance from the military services outlines escalating punishment starting with counseling from commanders and moving onto letters of reprimand and ultimately dismissal from the service.
"We will be addressing each case on a case-by-case basis is what we're going to be doing," said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. "We're just not going to kick all of them out on the day of the deadline itself."
Navy officials say 99.7% of sailors have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.
That's the highest vaccination rate in all the military.
Meanwhile, the Army deadline is December 15th. The Air Force deadline was earlier this month.
Exemption requests are still being processed.
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