One-third of the US military rejects the COVID vaccine.History may help explain why

The US military needs to be vaccinated a lot before joining or deploying abroad, but the COVID-19 shot is not yet in it. “Emergency use authorization—The type of federal approval that controls the COVID-19 vaccine currently distributed in the United States — is preventing the Pentagon from requesting its administration.But the lack of mission Topics of interest Members refused the vaccine when they heard from senior military officials in parliament on Wednesday that about one-third of military personnel provided the vaccine. Changing that trend may require direct orders from the new Commander-in-Chief, President Joe Biden, for which it has little to do with anti-Vaxer conspiracy.

Only two-thirds of the army that provided the vaccine took it, Joint Chiefs of Staff surgeon Brig. General Paul Friedrichs told the House Military Commission. About 359,000 troops were first vaccinated. About 147,000 of them received a second dose, said Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense for World Security, Robert Salesses.

Defense officials are not tracking why so many troops are refusing vaccines.

“There is no system in place throughout the service to specifically track data on individuals who have refused or postponed the vaccine for some reason,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing Wednesday. It was.

“No one is hiding the data,” Kirby said when asked about HASC’s testimony. “If you know the exact number of people vaccinated, there is no reason to hide the data. If there is more testimony today, I promise to deliver it to you. , No one is trying to hide anything here. “

Hesitation by some personnel may have deeper roots than anti-vaxxer emotions. It wasn’t long ago that the department required the military to take vaccines with far worse side effects than previously reported or tested.

During the Gulf War, the Pentagon requested the Federal Pharmacy Enact special rules For military personnel who have allowed Command Leadership to throw “informed consent” out the window of a new drug (IND) vaccine under development. This rule was intended to protect service members from “weaponized biological or chemical agents”.

is more than 300,000 doses of IND vaccine anthrax vaccine absorption (AVA) It was probably distributed to more than 150,000 military personnel during the Desert Storm operation. A few years later, in 1997, Secretary of Defense William Cohen launched the Anthrax Vaccination Program (AVIP) in response to concerns about new biological weapons. By November 2001, 522,529 service members had been vaccinated with 2,098,544 AVAs in the program.

Many of these troops have begun to report medically unexplained symptoms. 2002 Government Accountability Office Survey Eighty-five percent of those who received the anthrax vaccine showed adverse effects — more than double the rate claimed by the vaccine manufacturer.

Today, military personnel in a particular profession need a version of the anthrax vaccine that has faced decades of additional research. However, the FDA’s special rules for the total abandonment of informed consent have long been adjusted. Today, only the President can approve it, and under very special circumstances, the Enabling Act of 1999 reaffirmed its authority.

Pentagon continues to face Legal issues They believe that it is related to the anthrax vaccine, while carefully navigating the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to the military from diseased service members.

“It’s under an emergency use authorization,” Kirby said Wednesday. “We have not received final FDA approval. Therefore, there are legal and practical restrictions on mandating the military and its families.”

Instead, Pentagon leaders seem to be trying to set an example and take the lead. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was one of the people vaccinated against COVID-19. Kirby added that he also received his first shot.

“The secretary’s concern is primarily in military health and safety. He was vaccinated. He did it after talking to a doctor and deciding that it was the right choice for him.” Kirby said. “But he realizes that these are individual decisions and that individuals need to have these conversations with their doctors to determine if it’s right for them … everyone is different. “

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon reported 237,561 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the military, of which 152,905 were military personnel. The pandemic caused 281 deaths related to the Pentagon.