WASHINGTON DC – Hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers have yet to receive a first dose or have not completed their vaccination schedule against COVID-19, despite the end of the federal deadline for complying with immunization, the newspaper revealed. The Washington Post.
The Post, which cited data from the Department of Defense, noted that while the immunization rate has increased since August, the response of troops to the order to be vaccinated has been “scattered.”
In September, President Joe Biden announced mandatory vaccinations for all federal government employees. And in August, the Defense Department had ordered all its soldiers, both active and reserve, to be vaccinated.
According to the Post, 90% of active Navy personnel are fully vaccinated, with more than a month to go until November 28, the deadline for that branch to complete its immunization.
While in the Marine Corps, which also has November 28 as the deadline, the percentage of vaccinated with a complete scheme is 76.5%.
In the Air Force, whose immunization period expires on November 2, 80.9% of its active personnel are fully vaccinated. This implies, the publication warned, that “more than 60,000 troops have only three weeks to meet the most ambitious deadline for the Department of Defense.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden continues his efforts to get the population vaccinated.
Among the National Guard troops, 38.5% are immunized, a figure that is similar to that of the Army reserve (40%). Both branches have until June 30, 2022 to complete the vaccination.
The Post noted that the National Guard and Army reserve “comprise approximately 522,000 soldiers,” representing about a quarter of the US Armed Forces.
The Biden government has redoubled efforts to increase the vaccination rate in the country, given the advance of the Delta variant, which has returned infections to unprecedented levels since January and causes more than 1,000 deaths every day, practically all of them not vaccinated.
According to the Post, there were more deaths among military personnel attributed to coronavirus infections in September than in all of 2020.
None of the deceased was fully vaccinated, said Major Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman, quoted by that newspaper.
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