WASHINGTON (AP) — Four cadets at the Air Force Academy may not graduate or be commissioned as military officers this month because they have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, and they may be required to pay back thousands of dollars in tuition costs, according to Air Force officials.
Highlights
- Four cadets at the Air Force Academy may not graduate or be commissioned as military officers in May 2022.
- They may be required to pay back thousands of dollars in tuition costs.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last year made the COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for service members, including those at the military academies.
- As of now, not one of their seniors is being prevented from graduating at the U.S.
- Military Academy at West Point, New York, or the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, due to vaccine refusals.
- West Point said that there are no members of the Class of 2022 who have refused to get the vaccine.