CNN reported last Wednesday that one-third of all U.S. military service members who are on the eligibility list for the COVID-19 vaccine have chosen not to get it. This is about the same percentage as seen among all U.S. citizens.
This information came out as Pentagon officials were called into a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.
The top Republican on the house committee, Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, stated, “It’s critical for our national security that every service member, as well as DOD [Department of Defense] civilian personnel and contractors, receive vaccines as soon as possible.”
Major General Jeff Taliaferro, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee, “The vaccine is the right thing to do, it’s clearly safe for service members.”
But Brig. General Paul Friedrichs, chief medical advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that the armed forces can’t force troop members to get the shots since the vaccine hasn’t been fully approved by the FDA (despite it being released under Emergency Use Authorization). He specifically referred to “a real limit legally that we have to make it mandatory for our troops and or families.”
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby commented that the number of military personnel refusing the vaccine is a “concern” of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, but that “he’s also mindful that it’s a voluntary program.” Kirby added, “While [Secretary of Defense Austin] has taken the vaccine because he believes it was the right thing to do for him and for his health and for his family and his ability to do the job, he recognizes that this is a personal decision that everybody has to make.”
Assuring the House Armed Services Committee, Major General Taliaferro said, “We need to continue to educate our force and help them understand the benefits and ensure there’s leadership involvement in the discussion of the benefits of the vaccine.”
TRENDPOST: We note this article to illustrate partisanship Presstitute reporting. For example, Silicon Valley, along with mainstream media, has banned all those opposed to COVID Vaccines and demeans them as conspiracy theorists and essentially ignorant, as Major General Taliaferro states, “of the benefits of the vaccine.”
However, when soldiers of the military refuse to take the shot, they are not belittled as are most of those unwilling to do so.
