Lankford calls for Pentagon audit of religious exemption requests for vaccine mandate

Sen. James Lankford is demanding an audit of the Pentagon’s religious accommodations requests for its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying military leaders are ignoring service members’ religious beliefs when it comes to the shot.

In a letter to Department of Defense Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell on Friday, the Oklahoma Republican said he received data clearly showing DOD leaders “are ignoring the sincerely-held religious beliefs of service members.”

“Until a few weeks ago, the US military had not approved a single religious accommodation request across all branches,” Mr. Lankford said. “Since then, the Department has informed me they have approved twelve requests — all granted to service members who are already planning to separate from their service — out of thousands of requests.”

The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Mr. Lankford said of the 19,979 known requests for religious accommodations from service members, only 0.04% have been approved.

Furthermore, he said that those who are denied are given “discriminatory, boilerplate” responses by the Pentagon. 

“DOD does not have the legal authority to second-guess the reasonableness of a religious belief or the service member’s assessment of the religious connection between the mandate and his or her underlying belief,” he said. “Further, the Department is required to evaluate all accommodation requests individually to determine whether or not the vaccine is the least restrictive way of burdening a service member’s religious belief.”

Mr. Lankford has been a staunch opponent of vaccine mandates for federal employees and members of the military, which President Biden announced in the fall. He introduced legislation that restricts the Pentagon from doling out less than an other than honorable discharge if separated for refusing to receive the jab. The measure was passed as part of this year’s annual defense policy bill. 

He has also penned several letters to members of the administration, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, outlining his concerns over the vaccine mandate and demanding answers for the low approval rate for religious exemptions. But he said the Pentagon has given only “evasive replies” and “incomplete data” which he said have “sparked considerable outrage on Capitol Hill.”

“Congress has a vested interest in ensuring that DOD is upholding the constitutional rights of our men and women in uniform,” Mr. Lankford wrote.

“As the Acting Inspector General, you are uniquely positioned to examine this issue without fear of reprisal, which continues to silence many concerned service members,” he added. “A full examination of the Department’s adjudication process for religious accommodations will only grow more important as the services commence separation.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.