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I know what you are thinking because I thought the same when reading this story. Doesn’t the Pentagon systematically impose the vaccination of troops?
It does. But he can only order staff to get vaccinated if that shot has been fully approved by the FDA for the general public. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna have received full approval; they were given an emergency use authorization to speed up their availability in the midst of a terrible crisis. This bureaucratic wrinkle means the military’s hands are momentarily tied even though protecting against COVID is a matter of basic preparation. Until the FDA gets full approval, the Defense Department is stuck coaxing troops into immunity instead of leading them.
The rule limiting the power of the Pentagon to force vaccinations unless they have been approved for public use was designed, I guess, to prevent soldiers from being treated like medical guinea pigs for new pharmaceutical treatments. by Uncle Sam. This is a good rule in the abstract, but one which produced an absurd result in the case of a product which has already been dosed to nearly 50 million Americans en route for delivery to most of the US population by the end of the summer. No one is “experimenting” on the military giving them an mRNA vaccine at this point.
But rules are rules and vaccine skeptics in the ranks are taking advantage. And as you can guess, the refuseniks are young.
About a third of active duty or National Guard soldiers refused to be vaccinated, military officials recently told Congress. In some places, like Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the largest military installation in the country, acceptance rates are below 50% …
While Pentagon officials say they don’t collect specific data on those who refuse the vaccine, there is a broad consensus that refusal rates are much higher among younger members and that enlisted personnel are more likely to say no than officers. Military spouses appear to share this hesitation: In a December poll of 674 active-duty family members conducted by Blue Star Families, a military advocacy group, 58% said they would not allow their children to get the vaccine …
“I would rather not be the one testing this vaccine,” [one airman] explained in an email. She also said that since access to vaccines became a campaign theme during the White House race in 2020, she was more skeptical and added that some of her colleagues had told him they would rather separate from the military than take the vaccine if it became mandatory.
Reports of older vaccinations within the DOD have been circulating for at least a month. The main reason that younger soldiers are more likely to refuse than older ones, I guess, is the well-known fact that you are less likely to suffer from the debilitating effects of a COVID case when you are 25 than when you are. are 65 years old. If you’ve been tricked into believing that the vaccine itself is risky, the low likelihood of getting seriously ill if you are infected will obviously affect your risk calculation. Younger troops probably spend more time online than older ones, which exposes them to more anti-vax propaganda. (“Some of the concerns stem from the misinformation spread on Facebook and other social media, including the false rumor that the vaccine contains a microchip designed to monitor recipients, that it will permanently deactivate the body’s immune system, or that this is a form of government control. ”) And for the sake of basic psychology, young troops may relish an opportunity to rebel against Pentagon authority over them more than the officers who typically exercise this authority.
“What we’re seeing right now is similar to what we’re seeing across the United States, in that there is… a higher percentage of older people choosing to be vaccinated, and that’s decreasing with age ”. an Air Force general told the Military Times earlier this month. He is right. According to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 77% of Americans 65 years of age or older have been vaccinated or plan to do so as soon as possible. But only 41% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say the same thing.
Some of the reluctance to get vaccinated may be military-specific, such as memories of side effects caused by the anthrax vaccine in the late 1990s. But much could be explained by simple demographic data. While it is true that the military is more Republican than the general population, it stands to reason that it could also be more skeptical about obtaining the COVID vaccine. According to the KFF poll mentioned above, 75% of Democrats in the general population have got their first chance or will do it ASAP, but only 41% of Republicans will. The same poll shows that 41% of black Americans have gotten a chance or plan to do so as soon as possible compared to 61% of whites, and blacks are over-represented in the military relative to their share of the total US population. .
But while it is true that the military’s reluctance towards vaccines is only a reflection of that of the general public, there is room for optimism. Because the public is heating up at the idea of getting vaccinated:
As COVID-19 vaccination distribution efforts continue across the United States, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor reports that a majority (55%) of American adults now say they have received at least one dose of the vaccine (18%) or that they will receive it as soon as they can (37%), up from 47% in January and 34% in December. The share that wants to “wait and see” how the vaccine works for others before getting vaccinated has increased from 31% in January to 22% in February, while one in five persistent people say they will not receive the vaccine. “Only if necessary for work, school or other activities” (7%) or “certainly will not” be vaccinated (15%).
Inevitably, as the number of vaccinations skyrockets, some in the “wait and see” crowd will conclude that it has to be safe or else reports of serious side effects will be widespread. The arrival of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine could also ease opposition:
The difficulty for the Pentagon in getting immunization barriers to embrace is that it’s a tightly hierarchical organization, which is great when you have the power to impose vaccinations, but perhaps counterproductive when you do. are forced to persuade people. One researcher pointed out to The Times that the most important factor in convincing someone to get the shot is whether they know someone personally who received it himself, proof that trust – not pressure from authority figures – is the way to go. KFF data also confirms this:
Brass can only do what they can do, which is why SecDef Lloyd Austin released the embedded video below a few days ago. But I wonder if it wouldn’t be more effective for commanders to try to identify the most popular members of their units and do what they can as a friendly persuasion to convince these soldiers to take the plunge. . Having someone who is loved and trusted by many of his peers as an example can have a “viral” effect on those around him in terms of their willingness to get the vaccine. This plus an educational campaign on the safety of the vaccine may be the best the Pentagon can do until the FDA finally gives full approval for the vaccine, at which point the order to get stung can be given.
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