Pentagon To Require 1.3 US Soldiers To Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Illustration of United States military vaccination. (Wikimedia Commons/SC National Guard)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) Department of Defense announced a plan to apply for President Joe Biden's approval, to require COVID-19 vaccination for 1.3 million US troops.

After establishing COVID-19 rules for federal workers, President Biden last month directed the Pentagon to look at the 'how and when' to require members of the military to take the vaccine.

With the move, President Joe Biden's administration has postponed the mandate of a coronavirus vaccine for active-duty troops until next month, in the hope that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will give full approval to Pfizer's vaccine. Currently the vaccine is under 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 by mid-September," President Biden said in a statement.

That time could be increased if the FDA approved the vaccine earlier, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a memo. Austin said he could recommend a different course if the situation worsened.

To note, the leading US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hoped regulators could start granting full approval for Pfizer's vaccine as soon as this month.

Two US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the vaccine could be mandated soon, but more than a month was allowed in hopes of full FDA approval. The move might ease fears about vaccine safety and political backlash from opponents of the vaccine mandate.

Separately, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the military does not have a deadline for all troops to be vaccinated.

The US military says about half of the US armed forces are fully vaccinated, a number that increases significantly when counting only active duty troops and excluding the National Guard and reserve members.

Vaccination rates are highest in the Navy, which suffered a high-level outbreak last year aboard aircraft carriers. About 73 percent of seafarers have been fully vaccinated. That compares with the US national average of only about 60 percent of adults aged 18 years and over who have been fully vaccinated.

Because U.S. troops are generally younger and fitter, relatively few U.S. soldiers have died from COVID-19, only 28 according to Pentagon data.