Top leaders testified about the Pentagon’s role in the federal response to the pandemic.
General Steven Nordhaus, director of operations for the National Guard Bureau, later added that the Guard has a similar acceptance rate of “two-thirds to 70 percent”.
The Pentagon has not previously specified how many troops are refusing the vaccine. Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday that the department does not have a system for tracking this information and rejected the notion that officials are hiding information.
Officials at the House hearing were referring to extensive data showing that military acceptance rates “mirror” those of American society as a whole, said Kirby, noting that they said the department is not specifically tracking that data at the moment.
“No one is hiding data,” said Kirby. “We don’t have a system in place for all services to specifically track data relating to individuals who, for whatever reason, are refusing.”
At the beginning of the hearing, lawmakers on both sides expressed concerns about the pace of vaccinations, the number of soldiers who may be reducing the vaccine and the impact of refusals on military readiness.
“It is critical to our national security that each member of the service, as well as DoD civilian and contract staff, receives vaccines as soon as possible,” Rogers said in his opening statement. “I am interested in hearing from our witnesses what percentage of our service members has been vaccinated, what the refusal rate has been and what steps they are taking to get more vaccines.”
Pentagon officials said the vaccine will initially be voluntary because it has not yet been fully approved by the FDA, although leaders have encouraged staff to get vaccinated.
“We believe that, of course, the vaccine is the right thing to do. It is clearly safe for the military, ”said Taliaferro. “And we need to continue to educate our strength and help them understand the benefits.”
By the numbers: Taliaferro told the committee that 916,575 doses of the vaccine have been administered to Department of Defense personnel so far.
Pentagon official Robert Salesses added that 359,000 soldiers received the initial doses and 147,000 soldiers were fully vaccinated.
Vaccination schedule: Armed Services President Adam Smith (D-Wash.) Lobbied officials about how long it will take the Department of Defense to vaccinate the entire military, civilian and contracted workforce. Salesses told lawmakers that the Pentagon is likely to reach that milestone this summer.
“It will probably be late July, August,” said Salesses.
Lara Seligman contributed to this report.