Apprentice Defence Force personnel declining the Covid-19 vaccination are being pulled from their trades, but are being told they have to complete their Return of Service Period in a different role.

In a letter leaked to Stuff, Defence tells a member of service personnel that it intends to cancel their apprenticeship because they declined to have the Covid-19 vaccination.

However, instead of immediately undertaking a retention review, they were told they would be removed from their trade to work out their Return of Service Obligation (ROSO) in a different role, which could take almost a year.

There are 10 ingredients in the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. A microchip is not one of them.

National’s defence spokesman Chris Penk said the word “vindictive” pretty accurately described the situation.

The letter stated the person would be posted to a position where Defence was experiencing a staff shortage to work out their ROSO, but if they changed their mind before their apprenticeship was cancelled and received the Covid-19 vaccination, their “options could be reconsidered”.

“You should also note that CDF [chief of defence] has indicated that personnel who decline the Covid-19 vaccination will have their retention reviewed.

“Formal policy is yet to be received on this matter, however the intent is clear, so we are now compelled to apply an appropriate incentive to ensure personnel either complete training and fulfil operation needs or to remove personnel from the scheme to ensure that we remain effective and spend public money appropriately.”

Penk said that at a select committee meeting in February he asked Chief of Defence Air Marshal Kevin Short, “What thoughts do you have in the case of any personnel who might not wish to receive the vaccination and yet be involved in the Defence Force generally and, obviously, on the front line, so to speak?”

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In that meeting, Short said it was voluntary for staff to be vaccinated, as reflected in the following select committee transcript:

“There is an expectation, my expectation, that individuals will accept that and voluntarily take the vaccination … If individuals don’t get the vaccination because they volunteer not to, it can limit their service tasking and can limit their usefulness within the organisation.

“But it’s no different to any other vaccination process we go through. There will be a number of people who cannot be vaccinated, and an obvious one is pregnant service people and those that have underlying issues at the moment.

“So we’re not going hard on any issue. We’re just saying you need to volunteer. It’s no different to what they’ve volunteered for in joining the organisation.”

Defence declined a request to interview the Chief of Defence and written responses were given instead.

A spokesperson said the reason they were vaccinating all uniformed staff was because there was an expectation they were safely prepared for tasks that may be required of them.

The spokesperson confirmed that army personnel on apprenticeships who had voluntarily declined vaccinations had been informed it would impact their ability to deploy into operational roles.

“They will be removed from their respective apprenticeships and moved into non-operational roles while their ability to continue to serve is assessed.

“The NZDF will not put further resources into training of apprentices who decline to meet our requirements to be fully deployable domestically or internationally.”

When questioned about Short’s comments in February, Defence said the vaccine had been added to their baseline requirements by Defence Force Orders since then.

“All personnel have to give informed consent and then decline or consent to vaccination. The NZDF is not making anyone have a vaccine who has not consented.”

A man who works in the health and welfare space within Defence said the vaccination programme was questionable from an ethical standpoint as people were entitled to medical autonomy, which included the right to decline.

Penk said he would like to see people who were unwilling, or unable to be vaccinated for good reasons, be treated with dignity.

He has approached Defence Minister Peeni Henare, requesting that Henare direct the NZDF to respond appropriately to situations where personnel were unwilling or unable to receive a vaccination.

“To be clear, no-one is arguing, least of all me, that it would be appropriate for unvaccinated NZDF personnel to be serving in particular front line roles, such as Operation Protect duties in managed isolation and quarantine centres.

“Where NZDF personnel have volunteered to serve our nation, it would be deeply unfortunate and unfair for their service to be terminated unnecessarily.

“This is exactly what is being threatened, even to those who are unable for medical reasons to receive a vaccination at this time.”

Penk said he had also approached the Privacy Commissioner about concerns relating to the breaching of some personnel’s privacy, who were having their vaccination history paraded around their workplace.