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Key leaders were testifying to the Pentagon’s role in the federal response to the pandemic.
Major General Steven Nordhaus, director of operations for the National Guard Office, later added that the Guard had a similar acceptance rate of “two-thirds to 70 percent”.
The Pentagon has not yet specified how many soldiers refuse the vaccine. Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters later Wednesday that the ministry did not have a system in place to track this information and pushed back against the idea that officials were withholding information.
Officials at the House hearing referred to general data showing that the military’s acceptance rates “mirror” those of American society as a whole, Kirby said, noting that they continued. saying that the ministry is not specifically tracking this data at the moment.
“No one is hiding data,” Kirby said. “We don’t have a system in place across all departments to specifically track data about people who, for whatever reason, refuse.”
At the start of the hearing, lawmakers on both sides expressed concerns about the pace of vaccinations, the number of soldiers likely to refuse the vaccine and the impact of refusals on military readiness.
“It is essential to our national security that every member of the service, as well as civilian personnel and DoD contractors, receive vaccines as soon as possible,” Rogers said in his opening remarks. “I am interested to hear from our witnesses what percentage of our military have been vaccinated, what the refusal rate has been and what steps they are taking to get more shots.”
Pentagon officials said the vaccine would initially be voluntary because it has not yet been approved by the FDA, although executives have encouraged staff to get the vaccine.
“We believe that, of course, the vaccine is the right thing to do. It is clearly safe for members of the service,” Taliaferro said. “And we must continue to educate our strengths and help them understand the benefits.”
In numbers: Taliaferro told the committee that 916,575 doses of the vaccine have been administered to Defense Department personnel to date.
Pentagon official Robert Salesses added that 359,000 soldiers had received initial doses and 147,000 soldiers had been fully immunized.
Vaccination schedule: The President of the Armed Services, Adam Smith (D-Washington), has insisted to officials on the time it will take the Defense Ministry to vaccinate all its military, civilian and subcontractor personnel. Salesses told lawmakers the Pentagon will likely reach that milestone this summer.
“It will probably be around the end of July, the August period,” said Salesses.
Lara Seligman contributed to this report.
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