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Is Biden Withholding VA Benefits From Unvaccinated Veterans?
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Is Biden Withholding VA Benefits From Unvaccinated Veterans?

Social media users are falling for a satirical article.

A widely shared article from Delaware Ohio News claims: “Biden Orders VA to Withhold Health Benefits From Unvaccinated Veterans.”  The article has also been shared on Facebook with the caption: “Say how Anti American you are without saying it….so they won’t get their psych meds for PTSD? OR how about getting treatment for agent orange? What about amputees and their rehab??”

The article, which has also been spreading on Instagram and Twitter, is not real. The source of the article, Delaware Ohio News, is a satirical news site, which describes itself as such: “everything on this website is made up. Do not rely on anything said here.”

On September 12,  Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks shared the article, saying: “If true, this is insane! Biden Orders VA To Withhold Health Benefits From Unvaccinated Veterans.”

On September 9, Biden issued an executive order requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated, but did not say that unvaccinated veterans would be denied health benefits.

A section of Biden’s executive order reads as follows: “I have determined that to promote the health and safety of the Federal workforce and the efficiency of the civil service, it is necessary to require COVID-19 vaccination for all Federal employees, subject to such exceptions as required by law.”

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

Khaya Himmelman is a fact checker for The Dispatch. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Barnard College.

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