Four Air Force cadets might not be allowed to graduate for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and they may also be forced to repay thousands of dollars in government scholarship money.
The four cadets will definitely not join their fellow classmates for the graduation ceremony at the academy’s campus north of Colorado Springs later this month, a lawyer representing three of them, told the local newspaper The Gazette. However, a decision on whether they will be able to receive their degrees or be commissioned as military officers will most likely be determined by future legal proceedings.
“I believe that if somebody changed their mind (about receiving the vaccine), they could wind up being commissioned, graduating late, and not being separated from the Air Force,” said the cadets’ attorney and 1969 AFA graduate Mike Rose. “However they’ve got a limited amount of time to make that decision, and we’re running out of time,” he added.
