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 After setting COVID-19 rules for federal workers, Biden last month
directed the Pentagon to look into "how and when" it would require
members of the military to take the vaccine.
With the move, the Biden administration deferred a coronavirus
vaccine mandate for active duty troops to next month, with the
expectation that the Food and Drug Administration will give full
approval to the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE vaccine.
Currently that vaccine falls under an emergency use authorization.
"I strongly support ... the Department of Defense’s plan to add the
COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for our
service members not later than mid-September," Biden said in a
statement.
The date could be moved up if the FDA approves the vaccine earlier,
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo. Austin said that
he could recommend a different course if the situation worsened.
Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
vaccine could have been immediately mandated, but more than a month
was allowed in the hope of full FDA approval. That action might
reduce fears about the safety of the shot and political blowback
from opponents of vaccine mandates.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the military did not have a
deadline for all troops to be vaccinated.
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 Top U.S. infectious disease
expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that he hopes
regulators could start granting full approval
for the vaccines as soon as this month.
The U.S. military says around half the U.S. armed forces are already
fully vaccinated, a number that climbs significantly when counting
only active duty troops and excluding National Guard and reserve
members.
Vaccination rates are highest in the Navy, which suffered from a
high-profile outbreak last year aboard an aircraft carrier. About
73% of sailors are fully vaccinated.
That compares with the U.S. national average of about 60% of adults
ages 18 and over who have been fully vaccinated.
Because U.S. troops are generally younger and fitter, relatively few
U.S. servicemembers have died as a result of COVID-19 - just 28 in
total, according to Pentagon data.
Many congressional Republicans have refused to say publicly whether
they have been vaccinated, and some have attacked the shots as
unnecessary or dangerous.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; editing by Susan Heavey and Cynthia
Osterman)
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