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President Biden again said this week that when it comes to tackling Covid, we are on a “war footing”.
So why is he acting more like a curvy bureaucrat than a four-star general?
I don’t mean to sound harsh – the Biden administration was very successful early on with their vaccination program – but there is a level of foot drag going on right now that is totally unacceptable. Lives are at stake and in some ways the government’s response is downright sinuous.
The president has been debating for weeks whether the Pentagon will mandate vaccination of its vast workforce. There is certainly a strong case for military troops to be ordered to be shot as they serve up close and are deployed in countries where Covid can rage. And there are plenty of precedents for soldiers being told to get vaccinated, from smallpox to, more recently, anthrax.
But when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Monday that he was ready to make that decision, the administration said it would happen… eh, maybe in a month, maybe by the end of September.
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Why is there no sense of urgency? Why can’t the order take effect immediately? What if some of our servicemen and women contracted the Delta variant during this time and died? What about military preparation? I find that inexplicable.
Only about 64% of our active duty members are fully vaccinated, so this is not a theoretical question.
And by the way, Austin works for Biden. This is called civilian control of the army. Biden should certainly appreciate the retired general’s opinion, but he can override his Pentagon chief or, if necessary, appoint a new one.
Except it turns out Austin isn’t the problem. He had urged Biden to approve an immediate military mandate, according to the New York Times, “and the president hesitated.”
Instead, Austin issued a memo saying he would “seek” Biden’s agreement to make vaccines mandatory “no later than mid-September” – or “immediately,” if the FDA finally approves the vaccines. .
And that’s the other excruciating delay here. What’s taking the Food and Drug Administration so long? The agency has indeed given the green light to 160 million Americans to take these pictures. Anthony Fauci says the permanent lack of approval is a “technicality” and everyone should act like it’s happened before – even though many unvaccinated people cite this as their reason for hesitation. Even Fauci complained to MSNBC that the FDA has its own way of doing things.
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Biden said on Tuesday that “God willing, the FDA will come out within a reasonable time to say this vaccine is completely safe.”
Reasonable delay ? Now I understand that Biden, who described Donald Trump as anti-science, doesn’t want to be seen as interfering in the FDA approval process. But it’s not as if the agency (which doesn’t have a permanent chief) is saying vaccines are dangerous and the president wants to override the experts. They’re just moving at a molasses pace.
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Sometimes presidents have to push government officials to do their jobs faster. It’s a travesty that it took so long. And now it is delaying vaccination warrants for millions of Pentagon soldiers and employees.
If FDA officials have any doubts about the vaccines, they should say so now, because the country – and the world – depends on their judgment. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
The huge Pentagon was built in 16 months because we were at war. It is also a war, and the president must act quickly to demand answers.
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