NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy is speeding up the rate of separations from the service for sailors who refuse to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Of the 240 sailors who have been kicked out, close to half were removed within the past week.
According to new numbers from the Navy, as of Wednesday, 5,162 active duty sailors and 3,167 Ready Reserve sailors remained unvaccinated.
There have been 240 separations for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, all with an honorable discharges.
The Navy's top admiral said last week, the departures have not hurt the branch's ability to do its job.
"We have not seen any kind of readiness impact to speak of that would cause me any concern," said Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of Naval Operations, during a visit to Naval Station Norfolk.
Ten active duty sailors have been granted permanent medical exemptions.
There have been 250 temporary medical exemptions and administrative exemptions, and there have been 3,348 active duty requests for a religious exemptions, but zero have been green-lit.
The weekly update did not include the number of sailors who have received the booster shot, which isn't mandated.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing Wednesday, discussions are still ongoing about those doses.
"No decisions to speak to, with respect to any decisions on making the booster mandatory. I think we're still examining that," he said.
Infectious diseases are an acute problem for the Navy because personnel live and work together in very close quarters aboard ships.
Back in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic began, more than 1,400 sailors assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for COVID-19 -- one died -- and the ship was sidelined for 55 days.
The Navy has had more than 139,000 military members and civilians test positive for COVID-19.
Seventeen Navy personnel have died.
One hundred nineteen Navy civilian employees have died, including a civilian who worked at Joint Base Little Creek-Fort Story, who passed away on Feb. 3.