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Washington, D.C. - On Monday, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. (R-OH) sent a follow-up letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after receiving a four-sentence response to several questions sent to the Department of Defense (DOD) on August 30, 2022, regarding an opportunity for military medicine to lead the way in data-driven vaccine policies and sound medical decisions.

In his letter dated February 27, 2023, Rep. Wenstrup writes:

"As a podiatric surgeon who has spent time in the public health arena, as an Iraq War veteran and combat surgeon who just recently retired from the United States Army Reserve, and as a Member of Congress who serves as a co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, I am tremendously disappointed to receive nothing more than a four-sentence response to our letter that answers exactly none of the questions asked. Instead, the response simply states something Members of Congress already know – that Congress directly you to rescind the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for members of the Armed Forces.

From your response, it is clear that [our] letter was not carefully reviewed nor were the questions carefully considered. I sent this letter to you in good faith, with the belief that those within the Department of Defense, particularly those with an interest in military medicine and the health and wellbeing of our warfighters, would want to consider ways to incorporate a data-driven approach to a relatively novel medical immunity innovation: the mRNA vaccines, as well as evaluate well-established science: infection-acquired immunity."

Read the rest of Rep. Wenstrup's letter here.

Background: On August 30, 2022, 20 members of Congress with medical backgrounds sent a letter to the DOD in order to gain a greater understanding of the performance of the COVID-19 vaccines, the effectiveness of infection-acquired immunity, and how military medicine can lead the world toward data-driven vaccination policies. After nearly five months of waiting, the DOD replied to the members' seven detailed questions with a four sentence non-response simply stating that the DOD had discontinued the vaccine mandate.

You can read the original August 30, 2022, letter the members sent here.

You can read the DOD’s January 26, 2023, response letter here.

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