Almost 97 percent of active-duty members of the Air Force — the first branch of the U.S. military to reach its deadline for coronavirus vaccinations — have received at least one dose of vaccine, military officials said Wednesday. That percentage is in line with those for active-duty military members in most branches of service whose deadlines have not yet arrived.
Though the 10,636 Air Force members who remain unvaccinated are only a small sliver of the branch’s 326,855 active-duty troops, The with the vaccine mandate the Pentagon issued in August.
Many of them have requests pending for an exemption of some kind.
Some 4,933 troops have sought a religious exemption, but so far, not a single member of the military has been granted one. A smaller number have been given an administrative exemption — for example, because they are planning to leave the military soon — and others have received medical exemptions, some of which could be reversed if their medical condition changed. The Air Force said it would take 30 days to review all pending exemption requests.
For the military as a whole, about 97 percent of active-duty forces have had at least one dose of vaccine, and nearly 88 percent are fully vaccinated. The Navy leads the charge, with nearly 99 percent having at least one dose. When the National Guard and Reserves are included as well, though, they drag down the figures considerably, with only 69 percent of all forces fully vaccinated. In the Marines, for example, 86 percent of active-duty troops are fully vaccinated, but only 52 percent of Reserve troops are.