Pentagon may soon require COVID vaccine. What that means for troops in North Carolina
The Pentagon could soon require members of the military to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo to service members on Monday that he will soon request approval from President Joe Biden to mandate of the vaccine or authorize its immediate use once the Food and Drug Administration approves one of the shots available in the United States.
Here’s what the vaccine mandate would mean for service members in North Carolina, which is home to one of the largest military presences in the country and to six major military installations.
Who would be required to get the vaccine?
The mandate would apply to all members of the military.
Military members have been able to seek exemptions from other mandated vaccines for religious or medical reasons, The Associated Press reports.
When would the mandate take effect?
Austin will make the request to mandate the vaccines by mid-September, his memo said. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby clarified Monday that does not mean all troops have to be vaccinated by mid-September.
Biden said in a statement Monday that he “strongly” supports Austin’s plan to mandate the vaccines.
If the FDA approves one of the vaccines before Austin makes the request, however, the defense secretary would have the authority he needs to issue the mandate without a waiver from Biden, Kirby said during a news briefing.
The three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. are currently authorized for emergency use.
But health experts have said the FDA could approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of August.
Austin also said in the memo that the Defense Department will be monitoring the coronavirus situation and will act sooner than mid-September on the mandate if necessary.
Kirby said the Monday memo can be considered a “warning order” but that the Pentagon prefers troops get vaccinated as soon as possible instead of waiting for the mandate.
Austin said in the memo that the Defense Department will also follow Biden’s requirement for “additional restrictions and requirements for unvaccinated federal personnel.”
“Those requirements apply to those of you in uniform as well as our civilian and contractor personnel,” he said.
How would the mandate be implemented?
Once mandated, the COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of shots required for all member of the military.
But the Pentagon has tasked the services with creating their own plans for implementing the vaccine mandate between now and and mid-September or FDA approval.
“We understand, of course, that they have their own deployment schedules, their own manning constructs, their own differences in unvaccinated numbers, and so we’re going to be respectful of that,” Kirby said.
What if military members refuse to get the vaccine?
Kirby said it’s too early to speculate what the consequences would be for military members who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine after it’s mandated.
“But it then becomes a required vaccine just like all the other vaccines — and I think there’s 17 total, he said. “There’s eight, at least that I know of, that you have to get just to go to boot camp. It just becomes part of that regimen.”
He also said cases where someone refuses to get the vaccine would likely be handled at the command level.
But Kirby said Austin believes all service members, including those who have been hesitant to get vaccinated, would comply with the mandate.
The Pentagon says more than 1 million active duty service members are fully vaccinated against the virus and that more than 230,000 are partially vaccinated.
Why are the vaccines going to be mandated?
Biden previously requested that Austin consider how to add the COVID-19 vaccines to the list of required shots for military members.
Additionally, concerns about the coronavirus situation in general are rising as the delta variant rapidly spreads and sparks additional COVID-19 outbreaks across the country — prompting new masking and testing guidelines from health officials and some companies to mandate that their employees get the vaccine.
Austin’s memo encouraged troops to get the vaccine regardless of the mandate.
“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 wrote. “All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Pentagon may soon require COVID vaccine. What that means for troops in North Carolina."
