Pentagon: US troops must get their COVID-19 vaccines ASAP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Military troops must immediately begin to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo Wednesday, ordering service leaders to “impose ambitious timelines for implementation.”
More than 800,000 service members have yet to get their shots, according to Pentagon data. And now that the Pfizer vaccine has received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Defense Department is adding it to the list of required shots troops must get as part of their military service.
The memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press, does not dictate a specific timeline for completing the vaccinations. But it says the military services will have to report regularly on their progress. A senior defense official said that Austin has made it clear to the services that he expects them to move quickly, and that this will be completed in weeks not months.
“To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force,” Austin said in the memo. “After careful consultation with medical experts and military leadership, and with the support of the President, I have determined that mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease...is necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people. . .
Defense officials have said it’s critical for troops to get the vaccine because they live and work closely together and outbreaks could hamper the U.S. military’s ability to defend America..Guard officials have said all along that it is very difficult to assess how many of their citizen soldiers have gotten a vaccine. And only now will they be able to begin actually tracking the number with more precision as Guard members report to their drill weekends this fall. . .Austin’s decision to mandate the vaccine fulfills a vow he made earlier this month to require it no later than mid-September, or immediately upon FDA licensure, whichever came first.
> Austin in the memo noted that the new requirement will allow for exemptions that are consistent with the current policies for all the other vaccines. Permanent exemptions include serious medical reactions to the vaccine, immune deficiencies such as HIV infection, and “evidence of existing immunity” by a serologic antibody test or “documentation of previous infection or natural infection presumed.”
> There also are administrative exemptions, including one for religious reasons. The religious exemption is granted by the military services based on their policies, and it appears to be relatively rare. The decision is made by commanders based on consultation with medical personnel and chaplains.
> The Navy and the Marine Corps said they have had zero religious exemption requests for other vaccines in recent years and the Air Force said there were few. The Army was not able to provide any data.
> A little over half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated with one of the country’s three options, from Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.
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