U.S. military says no ‘hard data’ showing vaccine mandate hurts recruiting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military has no hard data to back up claims by top Republicans in Congress that the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is hurting recruiting, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.

“I’ve not seen any hard data that directly links the COVID mandate to an affect on our recruiting,” Austin told a news conference.

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who is vying to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and other Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to lift the American military’s mandate requiring troops to be vaccinated against COVID, arguing it hurts recruiting.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; editing by Jonathan Oatis)