WASHINGTON — The Defense Department will make vaccinations against COVID-19 mandatory for members of the military by Sept. 15 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads globally, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Monday.
“I want you to know that I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon” approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “whichever comes first,” Austin said in a memo to all department employees citing the rise in infection rates due to the delta variant “and the impact those rates might have on our readiness.”
Austin noted public reports that full FDA approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could come early next month. Vaccines currently have emergency use authorization.
The announcement comes after President Joe Biden required that all federal employees receive a vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Biden said in remarks at the White House on July 29 that he would direct the Defense Department to determine how and when to add COVID-19 shots to those already required by the department.
In a statement Monday, Biden said “Secretary Austin and I share an unshakable commitment to making sure our troops have every tool they need to do their jobs as safely as possible. These vaccines will save lives. Period.”
The Defense Department has 2.91 million personnel, including about 1.35 million in the active-duty military.
More than 1 million members of the military across all services and 297,565 Defense Department civilians have received two doses of coronavirus vaccines, Pentagon data show. Vaccination rates are in line with those of other Americans.
The department already had required that personnel who weren’t vaccinated or refused to share their vaccination status “wear a mask, physically distance, comply with a regular testing requirement and be subject to official travel restrictions,” according to Pentagon deputy press secretary Jamal Brown.
Requiring shots of fully approved vaccines isn’t new for the Defense Department. Active-duty and selected reserve personnel must receive the seasonal influenza immunization each year, as well as at least a dozen other inoculations against diseases such as measles and tetanus.
“Get the shot. Stay healthy. Stay ready,” Austin said at the close of his message.
