{"id":32688,"date":"2021-08-09T15:24:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T22:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/?p=32688"},"modified":"2021-08-09T15:24:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T22:24:02","slug":"defense-secretary-to-mandate-covid-vaccine-for-us-military-by-sept-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/defense-secretary-to-mandate-covid-vaccine-for-us-military-by-sept-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense secretary to mandate COVID vaccine for US military by Sept. 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon<\/a> is requiring members of the U.S. military to get vaccinated against coronavirus<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All military troops will have until Sept. 15 to get vaccinated, according to a memo sent by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to all Department of Defense employees. It could be even sooner depending on developments regarding vaccine approval or the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I will seek the president\u2019s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon [FDA approval] whichever comes first,” Austin said in the memo, which went out to troops on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I will not hesitate to act sooner or recommend a different course to the President if l feel the need to do so,” Austin added. “To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration in early September. Should that not happen, Austin could seek a presidential waiver to require troops to get the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin encouraged all employees to get vaccinated right away, regardless of the requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force. 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 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden endorsed the idea of a vaccine mandate in a statement issued Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I strongly support Secretary Austin\u2019s message to the Force today on the Department of Defense\u2019s plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for our service members not later than mid-September,” Biden said. “Secretary Austin and I share an unshakable commitment to making sure our troops have every tool they need to do their jobs as safely as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Associated Press, troops already have to receive as many as 17 vaccines, depending on where they are in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, more than 74% of the Navy have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Other branches of the military lag behind, with 65% of active duty Air Force members and 60% of Air Force reserves having had at least one shot. In the Army, that number is closer to 50%, the AP reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon is requiring members of the U.S. military to get vaccinated against coronavirus. All military troops will have until Sept. 15 to get vaccinated, according to a memo sent by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to all Department of Defense employees. It could be even sooner depending on developments regarding vaccine approval or the spread of COVID-19. “I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":754,"featured_media":32689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cww7news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/milit.png?fit=700%2C373&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32690,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32688\/revisions\/32690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}