By September 15, all American military personnel will have to be vaccinated against Covid. The Pentagon decided it. "I will ask President Biden for approval to make the vaccine mandatory for all military personnel by mid-September," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memorandum.
This is what the Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, is preparing to order, which could also bring forward the deadline, if the anti-Covid vaccine receives the full approval of the Food and Drug Administration (Fda). The Washington Post reports, citing Defense sources and the new memorandum released by the Pentagon.
The directive that Austin is preparing to issue takes note of the growing coronavirus infections in the US, due to the spread of the Delta variant and the risk that this can cause within military units. The decision comes after months in which defense leaders used the weapon of persuasion to get the military to consult with their doctors to get vaccinated and after the Biden administration ordered federal agencies to put plans in place to demand compulsory vaccination for its employees.
The decision after about 50 percent of the US military refused to undergo the vaccination. Statistical data that a large number of US Marines were choosing not to receive the Covid vaccine caused a stir last April. There is talk of about forty percent of the military body: the members of the American army who had received at least one dose were 75.500 in April, compared to about 48 who refused. This was reported by CNN, which gave as an example the case of Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, one of the most important military bases, 57% of the marines had said no to the vaccine.
About 2,2 million servicemen depend on the Department of Defense and it was feared that such a high rate of vaccine renunciation could limit readiness for use.
In March, a group of Democratic MPs called on President Joe Biden to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all members of the military, writing in a letter that "vaccine misinformation and skepticism" can lead service members to give up. to vaccination.