Judge Blasts Air Force Over Denying Vaccine Religious Exemption Requests, Grants Injunction

Members of U.S. Air Force prepare to receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea on Dec. 29, 2020. United States Forces Korea via Getty Images

U.S. District Court Judge Tilman Self, III, is the first to stop the U.S. Air Force from enforcing its military COVID-19 vaccine mandate on a service member.

Self granted a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Defense on behalf of an Air Force officer who’d been denied a religious exemption to the mandate. As a result, the DOD can’t enforce the mandate or take any adverse action against her, including forcing her to retire.