Defense Secretary Austin expected to make Covid-19 vaccine mandatory for active duty troops
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Austin’s “bias is to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for troops on active duty,” a defense official told CNN.
If the secretary made this final recommendation, he could request a presidential waiver so that the vaccine could be administered to the troops prior to full approval by the Food and Drug Administration. A Pentagon decision and recommendation on how to proceed could come this week, several officials say.
Biden announced on July 29 that he is calling on the Department of Defense to “consider how and when” it will add the Covid-19 vaccine to its list of mandatory military vaccinations. Biden specifically said he knew Austin was “open to it”.
Since then, the Joint Chiefs have met to discuss how a mandatory vaccination schedule might work. Austin has also consulted with military medical authorities, the defense official said. Austin’s current position is to “get approval to make this mandatory”.
‘We’ll follow up’
The Pentagon had previously indicated that it will likely wait for FDA approval before making vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory, but Biden’s push for higher vaccination rates has put pressure to act faster and is likely to lead the Pentagon to do so to request a waiver by the President.
A July 6th memo from the Justice Department said, “Because the DOD has told us it understandably does not want to provide inaccurate or confusing information to service members – the vaccine when they are actually lacking such an option due to a military order – the DOD should seek a waiver from the President before imposing vaccination requirements. “
When Austin was traveling in the Philippines last week, Austin said at a press conference that he would be consulting with medical professionals and the services on a timetable for implementing a new policy. “But we don’t let grass grow under our feet,” he said. “The president told us to do something and we will do it.”
The current mindset at the Pentagon is that the military services and geographic commanders work together to develop new vaccination schedules for troops around the world. Troops scheduled for upcoming deployments could be among the first to have mandatory vaccines, officials say.
Defense Department civilians would be subject to any rules established for federal employees. National Guardsmen would only fall under the mandate if activated by federal agencies rather than state agencies.
Biden announced last week that all federal employees will need to certify vaccination against Covid-19 or be subject to strict protocols, including regular testing, masking and other mitigation measures. At the time, the Pentagon said the new requirements would apply to military and civilian defense personnel, and was also considering adding Covid-19 vaccines to the list of required vaccines for military personnel.
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