The United States military is likely to make vaccines for COVID-19 mandatory in the near future, based on multiple reports from the U.S. Army and Navy.
“The Army has directed commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as early as Sept. 1, pending full Food and Drug Administration licensure,” the Army Times reported.
“The directive came from an execute order sent to the force by Department of the Army Headquarters.”
Meanwhile, similar reports of mandatory vaccines in the imminent future are coming out of the U.S. Navy.
“As COVID-19 vaccine rates continue to inch upward and cases continue to fall across America, the Navy’s top personnel officer said this week that sailors should expect the vaccine to become mandatory in the not-too-distant future,” the Navy Times reported.
“Speaking at a Facebook townhall event, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell noted that the vaccine remains voluntary for now because of its emergency-use status,” the Navy Times continued. “But when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves the vaccines, the Navy will likely make it mandatory, like the flu jab, Nowell said.”
“When it’s formally approved, which we expect pretty soon, we’ll probably go to that,” he told one sailor.
“That question will be moot,” Nowell added.
According to Department of Defense data, approximately 72 percent of sailors are fully vaccinated, while 82 percent of sailors have received at least one COVID shot.
The Chinese military was the first in the world to mandate COVID vaccinations for its troops in June 2020.
“China has approved military use of an experimental vaccine developed by the People’s Liberation Army and a Chinese pharmaceutical company, in a first for the armed forces of any country,” the South China Morning Post noted. “The vaccine, identified as Ad5-nCoV, was jointly developed by a team at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, led by Major General Chen Wei, and Tianjin-based company CanSino Biologics.”
“It is the first time that a vaccine candidate for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has been authorised for use for the military of any nation,” SCMP continued.
Nonetheless, there have been significant problems related to the public use vaccine developed in China by Sinovac, which is known as CoronaVac.
“There is a significant risk of ‘vaccine breakthrough’ with the Sinovac vaccine, or CoronaVac, with international evidence showing that many who had taken it were later infected with COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) director of medical services Kenneth Mak,” Yahoo News reported.
“Alluding to recent reports that more than 350 doctors and medical workers in Indonesia were infected with COVID-19 despite being vaccinated with CoronaVac, Associate Professor Mak noted, ‘It’s not a problem associated with Pfizer. This is actually a problem associated with the Sinovac vaccine, and in other countries, they are now starting to think about booster vaccinations, even six months out from an original vaccination for some of these vaccines as well’.”
“So it does give the impression that the efficacy of different vaccines will vary quite significantly,” said Prof Mak.
The side effect rates of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in the United States have been significant, although long-term effects are currently unknown. A reported 29% of vaccine takers had fatigue, 24.7% had headaches, 19.8% had headaches, and 15% had fevers in a public reporting based March study by Safely HQ.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in April reported in the medical journal JAMA that Moderna vaccines were more likely to produce post-vaccinations reactions than Pfizer.
“In December 2020, 2 mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) were granted Emergency Use Authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration as 2-dose series and recommended for use by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices,” the authors note. “In late February 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization for a third COVID-19 vaccine, a single-dose adenovirus vector-based vaccine from Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).”
“In clinical trials of the mRNA-based 2-dose vaccines, participants reported local and systemic reactions (reactogenicity),” the article states. “Frequently reported reactions included injection site pain, fatigue, and headache; greater reactogenicity was reported following the second dose.”
The U.S. military already has a lengthy list of mandatory vaccinations. The Army, for example, lists the following: Adenovirus, Types 4 and 7; Influenza (Flu Shot); Measles; Meningococcal; Mums; Polio; Rubella; Tetanus-diphtheria. This does not include vaccinations for travel to high-risk areas, which may entail more shots, such as for Hepatitis A; JE Vaccine (Japanese B Encephalitis); Meningococcal; and Typhoid.
Approximately one-third of recruits had been refusing the COVID vaccine, which is higher than the general population. If the FDA changes Emergency Use Authorization to full authorization for a COVID vaccine, they may no longer have a choice.
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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.