The Navy has blocked a Marine family’s permanent change of station due to the family not giving their children all of the recommended vaccines.
Fox News reported that Amanda Johnson, the spouse of a U.S. Marine and mother of five children, has claimed that her family has been denied an upcoming move to Peru due to her children not being fully vaccinated. The outlet noted that the Navy’s official policy does not require military families to have their children receive all recommended vaccines.
In a post on Instagram, Johnson wrote, “We are 30 days out from our overseas move & the Navy hasn’t cleared my children because they aren’t following the ACIP jab schedule. We are in limbo and have been waiting for months for a determination.”
“The Navy is saying because our children do not follow the CDC/ACIP schedule (the c0vid-19 shot is on here as well), our children are not medically suitable,” Johnson added. “And if we want to keep our family together, they must get *every* shot on the schedule.”
A picture of Johnson’s post, which features her family, has been shared on X, formerly Twitter.
Johnson told Fox News that the family was informed their children were “not suitable solely based on their vaccination status.”
The Navy’s BUMEDINST 1300.2B policy states, “Family members are not required to be immunized.” Additionally, Fox News reported that TRICARE, the U.S. military’s health care program, notes that an individual’s vaccination status “is not reviewed as part of the TRICARE overseas enrollment screening process.”
“We’re not breaking any rules,” Johnson told Fox News. “Peru doesn’t require vaccines, and Navy policy doesn’t either. We’ve done everything right, but, still, we’re stuck.”
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Fox News reported that Amanda Johnson’s husband, Marine Capt. Hunter Johnson, sent a letter to Navy Medical Jacksonville regarding the family’s medical plan.
“Our children have not been, and will not be, enrolled in childcare. My wife is fully devoted to their daily care,” the Marine captain wrote in a letter to the Navy. “We homeschool using Time4Learning and limit exposure to institutional illness risks.
“Peru has no vaccination requirements… My continued presence is essential to our family’s stability,” Johnson added. “This is not a deployment, it’s a PCS [permanent change of station].”
According to Fox News, the Johnson family has already made preparations for housing in Peru and secured an Airbnb location near the Los Angeles International Airport ahead of their expected flight to Peru.
“They told us, ‘You can push out your orders,’ but that’s absolutely not an option,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to be punished because Navy can’t get it together.”
