I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing while reading this story. Doesn’t the Pentagon routinely order vaccinations for troops?
It is true. But she can only ask staff to make an injection if that injection is fully approved by the FDA for the general public. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna received full approval; they were granted emergency use authorization to speed up their availability in the midst of a terrible crisis. This bureaucratic wrinkle means that the military’s hands are momentarily tied, although protecting COVID is a matter of basic readiness. Until the FDA grants full approval, the defense department is bound to persuade troops to become immunized, rather than referring them.
The rule that limits the Pentagon’s authority to require vaccinations, unless they are approved for public use, was designed, I suppose, to protect soldiers from being treated as medical guinea pigs for new pharmaceutical treatments by Uncle Sam. This is a good rule of thumb in the abstract, but it produced an absurd result in the case of a product that has already been dosed to almost 50 million Americans on its way to be delivered to the majority of the United States population in late summer. No one is “experimenting” with the military, giving them an mRNA vaccine right now.
But rules are rules, and vaccine skeptics are taking advantage. And as you can imagine, refuseniks are young trends.
Approximately one third of the troops in active duty or in the National Guard refused to get the vaccine, military officials recently told Congress. In some places, such as Fort Bragg, NC, the largest military facility in the country, acceptance rates are below 50 percent …
Although Pentagon officials say they are not collecting specific data on those who refuse the vaccine, there is a broad consensus that refusal rates are much higher among younger members, and recruits are more likely to say no than officers. Military spouses seem to share this hesitation: in a December survey of 674 active family members led by Blue Star Families, a military advocacy group, 58% said they would not allow their children to receive the vaccine …
“I would prefer not to be the only one testing this vaccine,” [one airman] explained in an email. She also said that as access to the vaccine became a campaign topic during the 2020 race for the White House, she was more skeptical and added that some of her colleagues they told her that they would rather split from the army than get the vaccine if it became mandatory.
Reports on the trend of older vaccinations within the DOD have been circulating for at least a month. The main reason why younger soldiers are more likely to refuse than older soldiers, I assume, is the well-known fact that you are less likely to suffer debilitating effects from a COVID case at 25 than at 65. If you have been led to believe that the vaccine itself is risky, the low probability of getting seriously ill if you are infected will obviously affect your risk calculation. Younger troops are also likely to spend more time online than older ones, exposing them to more antivax propaganda. (“Some of the concerns stem from widespread misinformation on Facebook and other social networks, including the false rumor that the vaccine contains a microchip designed to monitor recipients, that will permanently disable the body’s immune system or that it is somehow controlled. governmental. ”) And as a matter of basic psychology, younger soldiers may enjoy an opportunity to rebel against the Pentagon’s authority over them more than the chiefs who normally exercise that authority.
“What we are seeing now is similar to what we are seeing across the United States, in the sense that there is … a higher percentage of older people who are choosing to get the vaccine, and this tends to decrease with age” . an Air Force general told the Military Times earlier this month. He’s right. According to the latest survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 77 percent of Americans 65 and older have had a chance or plan to do so as soon as possible. But only 41% of Americans aged 18 to 29 say the same.
Some of the vaccine’s hesitations may be specific to the military, such as memories of side effects caused by the anthrax vaccine in the late 1990s. But much of this can be explained by simple demographic data. If it is true that the military is more republican than the general population, then it stands to reason that they may also be more skeptical about vaccination against COVID. 75% of Democrats in the general population have had their first chance or will do so as soon as possible, according to the KFF survey mentioned above, but only 41% of Republicans will do so. The same survey shows that 41% of black Americans have had a chance or plan to do so as soon as possible against 61% of whites, and blacks are overrepresented in the military in relation to their share of the total US population.
But if it is true that the military’s hesitation about vaccination is primarily a reflection of the general public, then there is room for optimism. Because the public is excited about the idea of getting vaccinated:
As COVID-19 vaccine delivery efforts continue in the United States, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor reports that the majority (55%) of American adults now claim to have received at least one dose of the vaccine (18%) or will receive it as soon as they can (37%), against 47% in January and 34% in December. The share that wants to “wait and see” how the vaccine is working for others before being vaccinated has dropped from 31% in January to 22% in February, while one persistent in five says they will get the vaccine “only if needed for work. , school or other activities ”(7%) or“ definitely not ”will be vaccinated (15%).
Inescapably, as the number of vaccinations increases, some in the “wait and see” class will conclude that it must be safe, otherwise reports of serious side effects would spread. The arrival of the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine may soften the opposition as well:
The difficulty for the Pentagon in getting vaccine advocates to buy is that it is a rigidly hierarchical organization, which is great when you have the power to demand vaccinations, but possibly counterproductive when you are forced to persuade people. A researcher pointed out to the Times that the biggest factor in convincing someone to receive the jab is whether they know someone personally who received it, proof that trust – not pressure from authorities – is the way to go. KFF data also confirms this:
The boss can only do what he can do, which is why SecDef Lloyd Austin released the embedded video below a few days ago. But I wonder if it would be more effective for COs to try to identify the most popular members of their units and do what they can through friendly persuasion to convince those soldiers to dive. Having someone who is esteemed and trusted by many of your comrades to set an example can have a “viral” effect on people around you in terms of your willingness to be vaccinated. This, in addition to an educational campaign on vaccine safety, may be the best the Pentagon can do until the FDA finally issues full approval of the vaccine, at which point the injection order can be given.