Biden Hasn't Decided on Requiring U.S. Military Members to Get COVID-19 Vaccine -NBC Interview

[discocrisco01]

Source: Reuters

President Joe Biden said he has not decided whether all U.S. armed servicemen and women should be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine, according to an NBC interview airing on Friday.

Biden said it would be a "tough call" and added that one consideration was that military personnel were often in close proximity to one another.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-04-30/biden-hasnt-decided-on-requiring-us-military-members-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-nbc-interview

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. Please, Commander-In-Chief, make it mandatory. While you're at it, insist OSHA mandate masks...

Last edited Fri Apr 30, 2021, 03:31 PM - Edit history (1)

wearing.

It may be a "tough call" but that's WHY you need to make it.

Unit cohesion. No one gets left behind, right?

(Edited to clarify)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

32. What is it that you want OSHA to do? NT

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. Sorry, not enough coffee. OSHA needs to mandate mask wearing till things are...

significantly better covid-wise.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

41. Writing regulations takes time. What OSHA can do quickly is to issue guidance.

Here's what they've got:

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

[Blues Heron]

2. No brainer more likely

how on earth is it a tough call? Why cater to the snowflake brigade?

[C_U_L8R]

3. Aren't there other mandatory vaccines for the troops?

Yeah, this shouldn't be a tough decision. Might help weed out the crazies too.

[IronLionZion]

12. Sounds like it's not universally mandatory

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220954/

it varies by lots of factors like geographical location and mission requirements and the soldier's medical conditions or beliefs.

[Rebl2]

13. Not a hard

decision. They have other mandatory shots they must take. Now this should be one of them when it is fully approved. If they refuse, then they aren’t allowed to join or stay in the military.

[onetexan]

38. Yup yhe hubby was saying the same -why isnt it mandatory for military

[FBaggins]

16. There are many...

... but probably none that only have an emergency use authorization.

[keithbvadu2]

4. Can it affect unit readiness?

Can it affect unit readiness?

It disabled an entire nuke carrier.

[ananda]

15. The could vax in stages, not everyone at the same time.

Maybe

[keithbvadu2]

31. Yeah! I see your point..

Yeah! I see your point..

I was thinking more along the lines of the not vaxing

[Ramsey Barner]

5. It's a tough political call, not a tough military call

What if, say, 40% of the military refused to get vaccinated? Kick them out and fuel an armed insurrection?

Of course any military leader should order universal covid military vaccinations. And I'll bet that eventually the order will come down. But in the meantime, maybe order mandatory attendance at military medical covid info sessions and all military docs urging personnel to get vaccinated?

[ancianita]

21. +1

[pandr32]

29. +2

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Easy call, not tough. Military has to maintain a level of readiness.

And, the military should be able to move into various parts of the world. Even with J&J, it would take two weeks to build immunity prior to a deployment.

Before going overseas, military brings all participants to a level of immunity to likely regional diseases.

[FarPoint]

7. I would like to see the rate of infection currently.....without mandate.

increased rate of infection can validate a mandate for the vaccine with military...I understand the caution with this decision.

[70sEraVet]

8. I had the impression that the only reason the vaccine wasn't ALREADY

mandatory for troops, was that no Covid vaccine has been fully approved by FDA. How far are we from that?

[kirkuchiyo]

10. I've read full approval in June.

Don't remember where though so take that with a grain of salt.

[COL Mustard]

22. You're Correct

It's not required for the military until it's received full approval...EUA doesn't count. I'm not sure when full approval will happen, but I'd expect it to be mandated soon after that happens.

[COL Mustard]

23. PS Even Though I'm Retired, I Got Mine

And will be fully vaccinated next week.

[mopinko]

9. making it mandatory would help flush out the kooks.

in fact, while they are looking for extremist views in the ranks, they should start w the ones who havent gotten it yet.
it's an obsession of kooks on both ends of the spectrum.

[orangecrush]

25. +1

[rainin]

11. I believe it's voluntary at West Point right now, but without proof that you've had the vaccine,

you have no off-post privileges. Something tells me their numbers are going to be pretty good. And proof of vaccination or negative test is required for visitors to attend graduation. In the absence of mandatory orders, this is a pretty effective way of incentivizing compliance

[JohnSJ]

14. It is the commander in chief's responsibility to insure the safety of the troops.

You cannot say everyone should be vaccinated on the one hand, and make it voluntary to the military on the other hand

It is ridiculous, and really gives a bad look. The president just gave an address saying it isn't over yet, and people need to still follow precautions and get vaccinated

More soldiers were killed in WWI by the 1918 pandemic than by the actual war.

This will come back an haunt the administration if COVID infections breakout among the military, and the administration will be rightfully critisized if that happens.

The president is not going to gain support from the military regardless if he makes vaccinations voluntary or not.

[marie999]

17. It would be wrong to mandate any vaccine without FDA approval.

The military and Dod are not allowed to mandate vaccinations without FDA approval. The President is allowed to using an executive order. The anthrax vaccine has caused illness. Veterans can put in for compensation for prolonged illness. I can see the Republicans jumping all over Biden if he mandates it. I can see the ads in 2022 and 2024 if any soldiers die or are disabled by the vaccine.

[Bayard]

18. I thought they were all long since vaccinated

Then, yes--should be done right away. It definitely looks bad, and puts many lives at risk. Wonder what the rate of infection is?

[FBaggins]

20. They're generally younger and healthier than the average citizen

Wonder what the rate of infection is?

The US military is actually tracked separately on the worldometers site. Compared to states of a similar population (there are about 1.3 million active-duty military personnel), the infection rate over the last year is a little higher (which makes sense given the often close living conditions), but the death rate is dramatically smaller.

[Elessar Zappa]

26. Still,

once the emergency status is lifted, the vaccine should be required. No reason for it not to be.

[hot2na]

19. When I was in boot camp...

When I was in boot camp in 1975 we got so many vaccines that we would sometimes get them two at a time one in each arm. In one case you were to line up and drop your drawers and take your shot in the rear end and if you didn't pull your drawers back up fast enough they would send you off to happy hour (not an actual happy hour .

[Ray Bruns]

30. I was in the navy for five years

I don't remember anyone asking for me to get vaccinated. They just told me to get down to the mess deck and get my shot.

[womanofthehills]

33. Because the law changed after so many getting sick from anthrax vax

Doe vs Rumsfeld

[orangecrush]

24. GET IT OR GTFO

[womanofthehills]

35. They are so young and healthy and it such close contact

Most of them probably have natural immunity by now. It’s the new variants that now might will be a problem for the world -including the vaccinated. Research is now being done on the triple mutation variant in India to see if it escapes natural immunity and vaccine immunity. This is a very uncharted place we are in. The 1918 virus did not mutate like this virus.

[RobertDevereaux]

27. ORDER IT NOW!

[womanofthehills]

34. Why order it - the young don't even get that sick

Very rarely die and most probably have natural immunity by now. Also, what Vax? With all the new variants here now and the current vaccines being sub optimal for the new variants who would decide to Vax them with what by the time of FDA approval. We hear Moderna and Pfizer are making a booster against the African strain but.... what about the new triple mutation strain in India & the ones coming after that. This is not an easy decision and Biden will not force it because it would be really politically bad for him.

[IbogaProject]

28. issues are new tech and still only emergency use authorized

The issues are new tech and still only emergency use authorized. It can take two years to fully evaluate even initial safety analysis. It should be optional but if a non vaccinated soldier test positive they are discharged into the national guard if their health holds up or honorable discharge if they get real sick and don't fully recover.

[marie999]

39. Did you have a choice?

And how do you know they don't belong to something you don't know anything about? I did serve, 4 years in the army, and I stand by those who don't want a repeat of the anthrax vaccine.