Only months after an order by President Joe Biden made it mandatory, the United States military has moved swiftly to get to near-universal vaccination. The Washington Post reports that roughly 97% of active-duty service members have now had at least one dose, and 87% have had both. As widely expected by commenters with even a passing knowledge of military matters, each military branch has achieved those numbers by not taking any guff from soldiers who believe they should be able to opt-out; the Post also reports that while some medical exemptions have been granted, no religious exemptions have been. That appears to be because officials are being hard-asses about the matter, and those who would claim such an exemption «would be required to have an established history of adherence to a religion that prohibits vaccines, among other things.» Neither Facebook paranoia nor reflexive hatred of authority counts as an established «religion,» at least not yet, and of the world's many recognized religions only a handful are anti-vaccine on principle. The military requires numerous vaccines for entry and deployment both, and if you weren't having a very visible cow over those, your newfound religious beliefs are probably not going to fly. Read more