Governor Kim Reynolds is among a group of GOP governors who’re calling on Pentagon officials to abandon the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for National Guard soldiers.
Reynolds argues that as governor, she has authority over the Iowa National Guard and should be allowed to let guard members in Iowa exercise their personal choice to refuse a COVID-19 shot.
Army National Guard members are paid with federal funds and face losing their paycheck and eventually being denied continued service in the Guard if they fail to be fully vaccinated by June 30.
Soldiers have had to get 17 different vaccines before they entered any branch of the military. Reynolds says adding the COVID vaccine to that list is “an overreach.” The U.S. Secretary of Defense says mandatory vaccinations are “familiar to all service members” and vaccination against COVID is necessary “to protect the Force and defend the American people.”