WASHINGTON – On Friday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding the Army’s recent letter to previously discharged service members who were involuntarily separated after refusing to comply with the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination order, allowing them to request a correction of their records and potentially apply to return to service. 

Sen. Johnson wrote, “Allowing service members to request to correct their records or potentially apply to return to service falls well short of providing those brave men and women any kind of compensation resulting from their involuntary separation and a profound apology for upending their lives.” 

“If DOD wants to restore its credibility and trust among current and prospective service members, it needs to show that it is willing to be transparent and forthcoming regarding the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Sen. Johnson continued.

Sen. Johnson has previously described DOD’s credibility issues in his multiple letters on data integrity issues in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED). His office continues to receive reports from DOD whistleblowers indicating that adverse medical events are alarmingly persistent in DMED.

For over two years, DOD has stonewalled the senator’s oversight work that could provide service members and their families much much-needed information about the health consequences of the vaccines.   

Last month, DOD admitted to Sen. Johnson that it had “identified an increased incidence of very rare conditions – myo/pericarditis – during COVID-19 vaccine introduction in 2021.” However, DOD attempted to downplay the significance of this by stating: “It is difficult to report precise numbers of adverse events following immunization since establishing a causal relationship between vaccination and a clinical diagnosis can be challenging. Nonetheless, the military has identified 80-90 cases of myo/pericarditis in Service members following administration of more than 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in this population.” 

“Over the last two years I have sent over 60 public letters to federal agencies, including DOD, on various aspects of the pandemic. The overall lack of transparency from you and your colleagues on COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy is appalling,” Sen. Johnson stated. 

The senator is still waiting to receive complete answers to questions his staff sent DOD following the publication of a news article that reported on new information from a DOD whistleblower on more increases in medical diagnoses in DMED. The senator also reiteratedrequests for Tricare data that he made to DOD nearly one year ago. DOD has failed to provide any response to that letter.

“Inquiries and requests for information concerning the health and well-being of service members should never be ignored, particularly when those questions are from members of Congress and their staff,” the senator concluded.

He is requesting a response to his inquiries by no later than December 15, 2023.

Read more about the senator’s December 1, 2023 letter to Sec. Austin in the Epoch Times.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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