According to the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, the U.S. military will now require the COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to all service personnel once the Pfizer vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was “prepared to issue updated guidelines requiring all service personnel to be vaccinated.”
“These efforts ensure the safety of our service members and promote the readiness of our force, not to mention the health and safety of the communities around the country in which we live,” he stated.
Kirby said that a timeline will be available for when soldiers must get the shot in the coming days.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby stated that the Defense Department is working on “guidance for the force” to make vaccine mandatory. A timeline will be given in the coming days.
Kirby refused to comment on plans to do so for the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccinations. He stated that the current focus is to “move forward to implement a mandatory vaccine regimen for Pfizer.”
“I don’t want to get ahead of decisions that haven’t been made yet,” he stated.
The FDA earlier on Monday granted the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine full approval, a move that’s expected to boost vaccinations and spark more mandates nationwide.
The FDA earlier on Monday granted the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine full approval, a move that’s expected to boost vaccinations and spark more mandates nationwide.
The decision comes as the Pentagon experienced its deadliest month yet in August, with five service member deaths reported between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18 and eight in the last three weeks, according to the Defense Department’s latest numbers.
Before that, the department reported one to two deaths per month for service members, with a maximum of four in November.
There have been 34 deaths in total by COVID-19 among the military.
Austin earlier this month announced that he would seek the president’s approval to add the coronavirus vaccine to the Pentagon’s list of required shots by mid-September, a decision that would apply to the nation’s roughly 1.3 million service members.
As it was an FDA emergency use authorization, the Pentagon did not require COVID-19 for its personnel.
The U.S. military requires 17 vaccines for service members before they can enter the military, or go overseas. This includes measles and mumps, diphtherias, smallpox, hepatitis and flu.
Austin must ask President Biden for a waiver if he wants to require the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines prior to full FDA approval. If the highly contagious delta variant causes infection rates to rise, the Pentagon chief has warned the military that he might go that route.
Kirby stated previously that once the mandate for vaccines is in place, there could be administrative or disciplinary consequences for not receiving it.
