National Guardsman with Religious Objection Given COVID-19 Vaccine Instead of Flu Shot
October 7, 2022 | Maine
A former National Guardsman who sought a religious exemption to the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate was given the mRNA shot instead of an inoculation for the flu “accidentally,” according to the service.
After refusing the COVID vaccine multiple times and requesting a religious exemption to the mandate, former Maine National Guard Specialist Mathew Bouchard was given the mRNA shot instead of the flu vaccine months before he was to leave the service, he told Just the News on Thursday.
Bouchard, who served in the military for six years, said he first filled out a COVID vaccine refusal form in April 2021, then again in November when he was ordered to get the flu shot, despite the fact that he was leaving the military two months later.
When he went to get the flu vaccine, Bouchard filled out the refusal form for the COVID vaccine and then completed a form for the flu shot.
There were two separate lines for vaccinations, one for COVID and the other for the flu, and there were two separate noncommissioned officers (NCOs) administering the vaccines. While Bouchard was in the flu shot line, the NCO in the COVID line said that anyone needing the flu vaccine could go to his line to get it. Bouchard asked the NCO if he should be doing this, and the NCO changed his mind, so Bouchard went back to the flu shot line.
Both Bouchard and his attorney, R. Davis Younts, mentioned that it was unusual for the NCO in the COVID vaccine line to offer the flu shot because there are supposed to be different NCOs to give different vaccines. One NCO isn’t supposed to give two different vaccines. There are also not supposed to be two different vaccines at the same table.
Additionally, the vaccines should be labeled differently. Younts noted that while the COVID vaccine is usually in a multi-dose bottle, the flu vaccine is in a single-dose syringe.
Bouchard then got what was supposed to be the flu shot. After receiving the injection, he was told that anyone who wanted a religious exemption from the COVID shot was to meet with the NCO who was giving that vaccine…. (Excerpt from The Star News Network)
