Washington (CNN) The US Navy can no longer separate service members who are unvaccinated and have sought a religious exemption from getting a Covid-19 vaccine, a federal judge in Texas ruled on Monday. A group of Navy SEALs brought the original suit against the US government last fall after the US military implemented a Covid-19 vaccine mandate. In January, the lawyers representing the Navy SEALs filed a class action request, asking that all US Navy service members who have requested religious exemptions, over 4,000 of them, not be reprimanded or separated from service for requesting a religious exemption. The federal judge from the Northern District of Texas, Reed O'Connor, granted the class action request in a court filing on Monday. The Supreme Court last week agreed to temporarily freeze part of the lower Northern District of Texas court's opinion requiring the Navy to deploy the Navy SEALs in the case, even though they remained unvaccinated per their religious exemption request.

Source: CNN April 01, 2022 23:03 UTC