Senator’s call to suspend Pentagon vaccine mandate sets up clash

[Tony]

WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — A senior Senate Republican’s call for a suspension of mandatory coronavirus vaccines for U.S. troops and Pentagon civilians could fuel partisan divisions over the pandemic and add a defense element to the debate.

James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, in a letter Monday to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III called the Pentagon’s vaccine mandates “haphazardly implemented and politically motivated.”