A White House spokesman on Wednesday said lifting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the military would be "a mistake," Politico reported.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby defended the policy, which lawmakers are preparing to overturn.
"What I would say is that we continue to believe that repealing the vaccine mandate is a mistake," Kirby said during a press briefing. "Making sure our troops are ready to defend this country and prepared to do so, that remains the president's priority and the vaccine requirement for COVID does just that.
"But Republicans in Congress have obviously decided that they'd rather fight against the health and well-being of those troops, rather than protecting them. So we still believe it's a mistake."
The COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military would be rescinded under the annual defense bill heading for a vote this week in Congress, ending a directive that helped ensure the vast majority of troops were vaccinated but also raised concerns that it harmed recruitment and retention.
Republicans, emboldened by their new House majority next year, pushed the effort, which was confirmed Tuesday night when the bill was unveiled.
The vaccine mandate was first issued by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August 2021.
Kirby did not say if President Joe Biden will consider a veto of the $847 billion policy bill over the mandate, declining to "get ahead of process."
"We've noted the language, the conference language, but there's still the legislative process ahead of this," said Kirby, who noted that the vast majority of the armed forces have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he wants to keep the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place to protect the health of the troops.
"A million people died in the United States of America," Austin said. "We lost hundreds in DOD. So this mandate has kept people healthy. I support continuation of vaccinating the troops."
The Washington Examiner reported Monday that Biden "would consider" removing the vaccine mandate from the defense bill.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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