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FACT BRIEF

Did the Defense Secretary text all active military to get the COVID-19 vaccine by 10 a.m. or be court-martialed?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
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NO

The claim going around social media that 12 F-22 pilots walked off the job because of a text from the Defense Secretary telling them to get the COVID-19 vaccine right away got this reaction from a Defense spokesperson:

"The Secretary of Defense has never sent any kind of force-wide text message about anything, ever.

"The pilot's quitting as a result of the text message is also false, given that there was no text. The Secretary directed each service to tailor specific guidance to their service members. The USMC and Navy gave 90 days for active duty (120 for reserve) and the USAF is giving 60 for active and 90 for reserve. All those dates are as of 30 Aug for the deadline timeline. The Army has not officially announced their plan yet, though it should be any day now."

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
US Navy Personnel Command Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and reporting policy
US Air Force DAF announces mandatory COVID vaccine implementation guidelines for Airmen, Guardians
US Department of Defense Mandatory coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination of Department of Defense service members
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.