Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., lauded on Newsmax a measure included in the National Defense Authorization Act rescinding COVID-19 vaccine mandates for military service members.
Paul said on "Eric Bolling The Balance" that "getting rid of the vaccine mandate is a huge victory."
"This is big news," Paul said. "Last week, 20 Republican senators wrote a letter and said ... we will not vote the defense authorization bill unless they get rid of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the military."
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to say whether President Joe Biden would veto the $847 billion defense bill.
When faced with a question at the top of a press briefing, Jean-Pierre said, according to the Washington Examiner, that the president would wait to judge the bill "in its entirety" before making a decision.
"I don't want to get ahead of the process," she added. "As we know, there's the conference language. There's still the legislative process that has to move ahead on this. I'm not going to get ahead of the vote, or I'm not going to get ahead of the president."
"What we saw happen on the NDAA as it relates to the vaccine mandate, making sure our troops are prepared and ready for service is a priority. For President Biden," she continued, "the vaccination requirement for COVID does just that."
Soon after, the White House press secretary added that before Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect, "nearly 700 Department of Defense personnel and service members died of COVID," including "almost 100" on active duty.
According to a VAERS summary on COVID-19 vaccines, the number of adverse reactions to the jabs totals 1,088,560. A note from the survey mentions that "the total number of deaths associated with the COVID-19 vaccines is more than double the number of deaths associated with all other vaccines combined since the year 1990."
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