Defense secretary to Iowa governor: Feds have authority to require COVID vaccine

DES MOINES — The U.S. secretary of defense said in a letter to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds that the federal Department of Defense has the authority to require all service members — including those in the Iowa National Guard — to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Reynolds, in a statement, said she “strongly” disagrees with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, calling it “unconscionable” to dismiss soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated.

Roughly one in five Iowa l Guard members is not vaccinated, an Iowa National Guard spokeswoman said Friday.

Austin’s letter, dated Jan. 27, was in response to a Dec. 14 letter from Reynolds and four other Republican governors.

The governors asked the defense department to withdraw the vaccine requirement, arguing matters of discipline among Guard members are the states’ responsibility.

National Guard members who do not get vaccinated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing will be prohibited from participating in drills, training and other duties, and their status in the Guard will be jeopardized.

The COVID-19 vaccine is one of 10 mandatory vaccines and seven other vaccines that can be required of all service members, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In Austin’s response to Reynolds and the other governors, Austin said the COVID vaccine requirement is his responsibility under federal law “to promote the health, safety and readiness of our military personnel, regardless of duty status, to include all members of the National Guard performing any duty or training.”

Austin said the COVID vaccine is required because when service members are sidelined by the virus, their absence jeopardizes the military’s ability to accomplish its missions.

“To ensure that we maintain a healthy and ready military force capable of accomplishing our mission to defend this Nation and to protect the American people, vaccination against COVID-19 is an essential military readiness requirement for all components and units of the military, including the Iowa National Guard,” Austin wrote.

Maj. Gen. Ben Corell, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, said in early January that roughly 80 percent of all Iowa Guard members were vaccinated. That is still the most recent figure available.

“When we add an additional factor in there of having to remove people from service because they’re not vaccinated, I have a big concern about it,” Corell said at the time. “We’ve had several members that have decided to retire rather than get the vaccination.”

The almost 2,000 members of the Iowa Air National Guard had until Dec. 2 to become vaccinated. The deadline for the Iowa Army National Guard is June 30.

Reynolds’ response

Reynolds, in a statement, said she “strongly” disagrees with Austin that the U.S. Department of Defense has the authority to implement the COVID vaccine requirement for National Guard units.

“These are the very men and women serving and protecting our country and our freedoms, and I believe they deserve the right to make their own health care decisions,” Reynolds said in a statement.

“It’s unconscionable to think the government will go so far as to strip these honorable men and women of the nation’s top duties if they don’t comply,” she stated. “They protect the very freedoms that the federal government apparently doesn’t believe they, too, deserve.”

U.S. military

The four major U.S. military branches have vaccination rates in the mid- to high 90s:

Letter to Governor on COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Members of the National Guard by Gazetteonline on Scribd

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