Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for all active-duty and reserve Armed Forces service members.
In his official order, Austin states mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 will only use fully-approved FDA vaccines which means, for now, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine granted full approval on Monday.
However, Austin adds, “Service members voluntarily immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine under FDA Emergency Use Authorization or World Health Organization Emergency Use Listing” are considered fully vaccinated.
The Defense Secretary pointedly wrote, “Mandatory vaccination are familiar to all our Service members, and mission-critical inoculation is almost as old as the U.S. military itself.”
Pentagon data released earlier this month showed 65 percent of the 1.3 million service members on active duty have been fully vaccinated.
See the full letter below.
After careful consultation with medical experts & military leadership, & w/ @POTUS' support, I've determined that mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 is necessary to protect the Force & defend the American people. We will only use vax that receive full licensure from @US_FDA. pic.twitter.com/ExjTgiiiOQ
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) August 25, 2021