House passes ‘National Defense Authorization’ act ending military COVID-19 vaccine mandate

United States Marines queue to receive the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at Camp Hansen on April 28, 2021 in Kin, Japan. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 4:36 PM PT – Thursday, December 8, 2022

The House has passed the National Defense bill. The bill includes a provision to end the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for active-duty service members.

On Thursday, the bill was voted on. It passed with a 350-to-80 vote. The $858 billion from the NDAA will fund the Defense Department for the 2023 fiscal year. This comes after weeks of backroom negotiations. Although the provision will eliminate the mandate, service members discharged due to not getting vaccinated will not be reinstated.

The bill now heads to the Senate. It is not clear whether or not Joe Biden intends to sign the bill. Instead of confirming or denying that Biden would sign the legislation on Wednesday, Biden’s Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the President “would look at the NDAA in its whole, and make his judgment on that.”

The White House has previously called the removal of the mandate a mistake.