With vaccination deadlines coming up fast, hundreds of thousands of American service members are still either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to the Washington Post.
The Navy has been very compliant with President Joe Biden’s July order that the country’s 2.1 million troops accept the jab. According to the new report, 98% of seamen have received one shot, while 90% are completely vaccinated. That is in complete contrast to the Marines, where only 72% are completely vaccinated. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 Air Force personnel have only three weeks until the DoD’s Nov. 2 cut off date.
Among the Reserve and Army Guard – which have until June of next year to accept the jab, less than 40% are completely vaccinated.
“We expect all unvaccinated soldiers to get the vaccine as soon as they can. Soldiers must get the vaccine when available,” said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Terence M. Kelley, stating that the June deadlines “allow reserve units the needed time to process and update exemption requests.”
Scattered throughout this WaPo report are different mentions of Covid deaths throughout armed services branches – which they say are ‘soaring’ at the moment. Throughout the pandemic there were 62 Covid-linked deaths out of 2.1 million military troops.
The military is balancing Joe Biden’s edict with historical pushback to forced vaccines – coming in part from a late 1990s backfired Anthrax vaccine.
“The 90s mandate “adversely” affected the “retention of experienced pilots,” according to a Government Accountability Office poll cited within a 2002 report. Around 16 percent of crew and pilot members in reserve units either looked for a transfer to different unit to avoid the process, or changed to inactive status or left their duty altogether, the report said.”
“The Army probably does not want to risk these kinds of retention problems again,” Brahmbhatt said. -WaPo
“Question for the SECDEF: are you willing to accept a large exodus of experienced service members just because they will not accept the vaccine?” former Navy SEAL and Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX) tweeted last month, saying “Honestly, Americans should know how you plan on handling this to force readiness — it is already leading to serious problems.”
Question for the SECDEF: are you really willing to allow a huge exodus of experienced service members just because they won’t take the vaccine?
Honestly, Americans deserve to know how you plan on dealing with this blow to force readiness – it’s already causing serious problems.
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) September 21, 2021
Author: Steven Sinclaire
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