US military has approved religious exemptions to vaccine mandate for 15 service members out of 16,000 requests

While the ruling only applies to the one officer who filed the lawsuit, the order in her favor could encourage other challenges to the vaccine mandate.

These cases remain the exception. The active duty military, composed of more than 1.3 million service members, is more than 97% vaccinated, while the total force, including reserves and the National Guard, is approximately 90% vaccinated.

Marines have requested a total of 3,595 religious exemptions, according to the latest data from the Marine Corps. As of this week, 640 Marines have been separated from the service for refusing the lawful order to receive a vaccine.

The Air Force has approved a total of nine exemptions and rejected 3,381. Another 2,664 requests are still pending. The Air Force has separated 160 service members for refusing the vaccine.

The Navy has received 3,369 religious exemption requests, but none have been approved, according to data released by the service. A total of 247 active duty sailors and one reserve sailor have been separated for refusing the vaccine. There were another 22 entry-level separations for those refusing the vaccine within their first 180 days of active duty.

The Army has received 3,088 religious exemptions requests and granted zero of them. The Army only recently put into place its separation policy and has not yet discharged anyone for refusing the vaccine, according to the latest data.