Pentagon Requiring COVID-19 Vaccine for US Troops (DOD)
9 Aug 2021
Military.com |
By Patricia Kime
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/09/pentagon-requiring-covid-19-vaccine-us-troops.html
Updated at
4:09 p.m. Eastern
The Defense
Department will require U.S. troops to get COVID-19 vaccines
starting mid-September or as soon as the Food and Drug Administration approves
it -- "whichever comes first," according to a memo released Monday by
the Pentagon.
Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin said in the memo to troops that he would not
"hesitate to act sooner or recommend a different course to the President
if I feel the need to do so" should the need arise with increasing cases
attributed to the Delta variant.
"I will
seek the President's approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than
mid-September, or immediately upon [approval by the Food
and Drug Administration,] whichever comes first," he added.
News of the memo
was first reported by The Associated Press.
Austin said the department
will spend the next several weeks "preparing for the transition."
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"I have
every confidence that Service leadership and your commanders will implement
this new vaccination program with professionalism, skill, and compassion. We
will have more to say about this as implementation plans are fully
developed," he wrote.
The decision
comes a week after President Joe Biden told defense officials to develop a plan
requiring troops to get vaccinated -- part of his broader campaign to require
vaccinations among the federal workforce.
Since the
vaccines were authorized by the FDA under emergency use, they have been
voluntary for all service members. Military officials have maintained since
last November -- before the vaccines had even been approved under an emergency
use authorization -- that they would remain voluntary for personnel until the
FDA issued formal approval.
But that was
seven months before the highly contagious Delta variant began sweeping across
the country, increasing case numbers and upping the likelihood that other, possibly more virulent, mutations could occur,
according to Johns Hopkins University
medical experts.
After months of
declining coronavirus infections in U.S. troops -- 6,006 cases in May and 6,574
cases in June, according to the DoD -- cases soared to more than 11,200 in
July.
Shortly after
Austin's memo was released Monday, Biden issued a statement praising the
decision, saying the country is on a "wartime footing" against the
virus.
"We cannot
let up in the fight against COVID-19, especially with the Delta variant
spreading rapidly through unvaccinated populations," Biden said.
In a briefing
with reporters Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said there's no
evidence that vaccine refusal is a widespread problem in the military.
"Members of
the military understand when you sign up for the military, that there are
requirements laid upon you," he said. "Some of those requirements
include being healthy and fit and ready to serve. Some of that depends on our
requirement to make sure you're fit and healthy, through inoculation and
vaccination."
Kirby said
individual cases in which service members refuse to get vaccinated will likely
be handled at the command level.
Vaccine holdouts
have expressed a number of reasons why they have yet to get the shots.
A senior airman
stationed in Georgia who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he has not
had the shots because he has concerns about the messenger RNA technology used
in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, a
new technique to elicit an immune response. The vaccines are the first to use
the technology after 30 years of research.
"Once FDA
approves it, you know, I'm all for it," the airman said. "I go out,
and I wear my mask. ... I don't think COVID is something that should be
downplayed. I will have no problem taking the vaccine. It's just not FDA
approved yet."
He added that he
also is concerned that the Department of Veterans Affairs would
not be required to provide health care or disability compensation to those who
received it on a voluntary basis, should the vaccine cause long-term health
effects.
"Let's say
somewhere down the road, we come down with some disability because of something
that was caused by the vaccine. That's not to say it will happen, but if it
does, and come back to the VA, they're gonna be like, 'Well, it was voluntary
at the time -- you got it under your own free will,'" he said.
Once service members
are officially required to get the vaccine, Kirby said, their status will be
tracked in their electronic medical records, along with other inoculations.
But details on
exactly what the new policy will mean for service members are still scarce and
will be laid out in an upcoming order.
The Pentagon
believes the services have enough vaccine doses on hand to inoculate everyone,
Kirby said.
The services
will have to periodically report to Austin on how well the vaccination effort
is going, Kirby said, but how that will work still has yet to be determined.
The exact number
of active-duty personnel who have received the vaccine has not been released.
Kirby said
Monday about 73% of the active-duty force has received at least one vaccine
shot, and roughly 62% are fully vaccinated.
According to
Defense Department data released last week, the numbers are lower across the
services when including the Reserve and National Guard forces, with 50% of all
U.S. troops fully vaccinated and another 11% with at least one dose.
More than
212,000 military personnel have contracted COVID-19, giving them natural immunity
to reinfection for at least eight months, according to research -- a common
reason some say they don't need the vaccine.
However, immune
responses differ in individuals, and vaccines evoke a stronger, more universal
response, which scientists say could protect people longer than natural
immunity alone, according to research published in June in the journal Science Translational
Medicine.
Concern about
the Defense Department's previous handling of the anthrax vaccine rollout also
is cited by hesitant service members as a reason for not wanting to get the
COVID-19 vaccine. The DoD launched a mandatory anthrax vaccine program in 1998
using an immunization that had been authorized under emergency use. Nearly
immediately, troops reported side effects, including fever and chills, nausea
and body aches.
The airman cited
the anthrax vaccine program as one of the reasons service members are concerned
about the vaccine. He described Austin's decision as a "bad move on his
part ... given that already too many people in the military really don't trust
their government."
But, he added,
he now will get his shot.
"I have it
in writing that it was mandatory," he said.
In his memo,
Austin recommended that troops just go ahead and get their vaccines.
"I strongly encourage all DoD military and civilian personnel -- as well as contractor personnel -- to get vaccinated now and for military Service members to not wait for the mandate," he wrote.
Connecting the Dots:
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Resources: Past Research
Navy SEALs Tell
Congressman They Don’t Have Enough Rifles To Go Around (Past Research on the Military & the Center for a New American
Security)
TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/03/navy-seals-tell-congressman-they-dont.html
Madeleine Albright, 1st
Female US Secretary of State, Dies at 84 (Connecting Her Dots In The Soros
Network) (Past Research on Madeleine Albright)
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2022/03/madeleine-albright-1st-female-us.html
Hagel calls for review
of US nuclear force (Past Research on the U.S. Navy &
the U.S. Air Force)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/01/hagel-calls-for-review-of-us-nuclear.html
Jade Helm 15:
Controversial military exercise starts Wednesday (Past
Research on the U.S. Army)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/09/jade-helm-15-controversial-military.html
Joe Biden: Ban
‘Civilian Ownership’ Of ‘Assault Weapons’ (Past
Research on Hunter Biden & Kamala Harris)
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/06/joe-biden-ban-civilian-ownership-of.html
FDA Fails to Protect
Americans from Dangerous Drugs and Unsafe Foods (Past Research on the FDA)
SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/05/fda-fails-to-protect-americans-from.html
FORMER PFIZER EMPLOYEE:
"CHECKMATE. GAME OVER. WE WIN" (“Connecting the Dots”) (Past Research on Pfizer)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2021/08/former-pfizer-employee-checkmate-game_26.html
The CDC: A Truly
Corrupt and Dangerous Organization (Past Research on
the CDC)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-cdc-truly-corrupt-and-dangerous.html
Veterans Affairs
Secretary Expresses ‘Regret’ For Disneyland Comments (Past
Research on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/05/veterans-affairs-secretary-expresses.html
Bobby Jindal Calls for
Louisiana National Guard to Arm Personnel to Protect Military Facilities (Past Research on the Armed Forces Benefit Association
& the Army
National Guard)
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/07/bobby-jindal-calls-for-louisiana.html
Dr. Ben Carson:
President Should Be ‘Sworn in on a Stack of Bibles, Not a Koran’ (Past Research on the Johns Hopkins University)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
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