Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pentagon Signals To Troops To Ready For Mandated Covid Shots
The Washington Post: Pentagon Moves To Mandate Coronavirus Vaccination For All Troops
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will seek to mandate coronavirus vaccination for all U.S. service members by mid-September and could begin requiring inoculation even sooner if a vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Pentagon said Monday. The effort is an acknowledgment that rising infection rates across the country pose a particular threat to military readiness, and it follows a months-long campaign by senior defense officials to cajole the nation’s 1.3 million active duty service members to get vaccinated voluntarily. The Biden administration, alarmed by continued spread of the virus’s delta variant and vaccination rates that remain low in several pockets of the country, has directed agencies throughout the federal government to devise such plans. (Lamothe, 8/9)
NPR: Pentagon Plans To Require COVID Vaccines For Active-Duty Troops
"To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to employees Monday. "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." The Pentagon cannot take the step unilaterally because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the vaccine. The move would require a presidential waiver, which Austin plans to ask for by mid-September. (Doubek, 8/9)
The New York Times: The U.S. Military Will Mandate Covid-19 Vaccines For Troops
About 64 percent of the 1.3 million active-duty service members are fully vaccinated. That rate is unacceptably low to the military because it is difficult to deploy troops who have not been inoculated to countries with stringent local restrictions and because a surge of the virus among troops can cripple readiness. (Cooper and Steinhauer, 8/9)
Also —
Politico: Mandatory Covid Vaccines For Troops Are Coming. What Happens If They Refuse?
Now that the Pentagon has said it will start requiring service members to get the Covid vaccine by mid-September through either a presidential waiver or approval from the Food and Drug Administration, what happens if troops refuse? Those military members should expect a range of penalties for doing so, military law experts said, ranging anywhere from a reprimand to confinement and getting kicked out of the military. (Custodio, 8/9)
