Rep. Luna, husband, sue Pentagon over since-repealed COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and her husband are suing the Division of Protection (DOD) refused to obtain the COVID-19 shot and left the navy underneath the Pentagon’s since-repealed vaccine mandate.

Luna and her husband, Andrew Gamberzky, a former technical sergeant with the Oregon Air Nationwide Guard, this week revealed they’d filed a federal criticism towards the Nationwide Guard Bureau, the DOD, the Air Pressure and the Oregon Division of Army for what they are saying was a violation of Gamberzky’s First Modification rights. 

Within the courtroom filings, Luna and Gamberzky’s lawyer declare he sought spiritual and medical exemptions to taking the shot however was denied. He was later pressured to resign after he refused the vaccine “based mostly on his sincerely held spiritual beliefs.” 

Consequently of his ouster, he and Luna incurred “vital monetary damage,” together with “lack of healthcare, spousal advantages, and survivor advantages as offered for by the navy,” in line with the criticism first filed Nov. 22 within the U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Florida. 

The criticism holds that the DOD violated Gamberzky’s First Modification rights, noting that “discrimination on the premise of Plaintiffs sincerely held spiritual beliefs brought about Plaintiffs wrongful separation from the Nationwide Guard.” 

Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a mandate in August 2021 requiring coronavirus vaccines for all service members, together with these within the Nationwide Guard and Reserve. 

Those that didn’t comply confronted varied ranges of punishment, together with lack of days accrued towards retirement, lack of pay and even dismissal from the ranks. 

However in January of this yr, the Pentagon formally rescinded the order, dropping the shot’s requirement throughout the navy, as stipulated within the fiscal 2023 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA).

A number of Republican lawmakers have since argued for again pay or reinstatement for troops who have been kicked out over the mandate. 

The difficulty got here up throughout negotiations over this yr’s NDAA, with Congress together with a provision that directs the Pentagon to evaluation the reinstatement of U.S. troops who have been discharged for refusing the shot. The invoice has been handed by each the Home and Senate and was signed into regulation by President Biden on Friday.

Gamberzky, who entered the Air Pressure in 2009, labored with particular operations groups and was awarded a Purple Coronary heart in Afghanistan in 2014 after he was shot and sustained life-threatening accidents. Different decorations he’s earned embrace the Fight Motion Ribbon and a Bronze Star, in line with the submitting.  

In 2017, he joined the Oregon Air Nationwide Guard, the place he was serving when the Pentagon put out its vaccine mandate.  

Gamberzky, a working towards Christian, stated he objected to the coronavirus vaccine attributable to his spiritual beliefs and opposition to abortion, as he claims aborted fetal cell tissue was used within the growth of some vaccines.

Whereas the COVID-19 vaccines don’t comprise aborted fetal cells, Johnson & Johnson did use fetal cell traces — not fetal tissue — when growing and producing their shot. Pfizer and Moderna, in the meantime, used fetal cell traces to check their vaccines. 

Gamberzky sought a spiritual exemption to the mandate in an Oct. 14, 2021, e mail, and additionally requested a medical exemption or lodging on or about that point, in line with his lawyer.  

He later realized that almost all his exemptions have been rejected and feared punishment, finally resulting in him deciding to resign moderately than wait to be eliminated by his superiors.  

Although Gamberzky left the navy on his personal accord, the submitting argues he was “railroaded” by the vaccination mandate and “wrongfully made to separate … as he was pressured to decide on between his dignity; compromising his pleasure as a high-level, long-serving member of the Airforce and Nationwide Guard; his job; and his sincerely held spiritual beliefs.” 

He and Luna “have suffered, and proceed to undergo, financial damage and irreparable hurt,” with the 2 searching for “an award of financial damages and equitable reduction,” in line with the submitting.  

Luna, additionally a former service member, stated the case goes past the legality of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and is a “vital equal safety concern.” 

“It’s an infringement on his constitutional rights, his spiritual rights, his due course of proper,” she stated. “Andy is a person with nice integrity, and he stood up for what he believed in – as an alternative of respecting his determination they took away his advantages that he rightfully earned after years of serving our nation.” 

In a press release to The Hill, Gamberzky stated he had no plans on rejoining the navy.

“When this administration made my capacity to serve my nation unattainable, I spotted it wasn’t the identical navy that I joined,” he wrote. “We misplaced our religion within the DOD and due to this fact haven’t any plans of rejoining till they correctly proper this incorrect.”