{"id":35812,"date":"2021-03-15T21:41:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/15\/vaccine-fears-why-inoculating-the-force-will-be-difficult\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:29:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:29:52","slug":"vaccine-fears-why-inoculating-the-force-will-be-difficult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/03\/15\/vaccine-fears-why-inoculating-the-force-will-be-difficult\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccine fears: Why inoculating the force will be difficult"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One Navy Reserve chief said he is skipping the vaccine for now because of how fast it was created. \u201cThat\u2019s not a risk I\u2019m willing to take,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young Army captain said he fails to see the point in getting the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines because he already had COVID-19 and wants to see his parents get vaccinated first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Army is all about managing risk,\u201d the junior officer said. \u201cThe risk to reward doesn\u2019t make sense to me yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Air Force Technical Sergeant doesn\u2019t like to put anything foreign into his body and will decline the vaccine as long as it\u2019s voluntary. He plans to \u201cdetox\u201d the vaccine out of him when the military makes the immunization mandatory, despite the fact that there exists no scientific basis for purging a vaccine from one\u2019s body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know my immune system is strong enough to prevent me from getting it,\u201d he told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the ranks of the vaccine hesitant in the U.S. military, men and women who for one reason or another are declining to get the for-now voluntary COVID vaccines, even as the brass pushes the fact that such vaccines are safe, effective and help protect everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the force vaccinated is a readiness issue for military leaders. For the past year, COVID outbreaks have hobbled the ability of units to carry out their mission, most prominently aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt last spring, when the virus forced an emergency port call to Guam and roughly a quarter of the 5,000 sailors onboard tested positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Boatswain\u2019s
Boatswain\u2019s Mate Seaman Alexis Bias, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), disinfects mooring line on May 21, 2020, following an extended visit to Guam in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. (MC3 Conner D. Blake\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Health officials outside the military are stressing the importance of getting as many jabs into as many arms as possible, to dampen the impact of future surges or more virulent strains of the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of servicemembers from across the branches reached out to Military Times in recent weeks to share their thoughts on the vaccines. Many of them requested anonymity to speak candidly about their views,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many troops support the vaccine efforts and say they wanted the shots as soon as possible to protect themselves and others while returning to a pre-pandemic normalcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others expressed skepticism with the vaccines, pointing to the speed in which they were developed, the temporary \u201cemergency\u201d authorization by the federal government and even the fact that higher-ups are pressuring them to get the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military leaders have acknowledged in recent weeks that roughly a third of servicemembers have declined the vaccines when it was offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who have confidence in the science behind the vaccines and their overall safety, the distrust comrades feel about this scientific counter-punch to a historic pandemic \u2014 and the misinformation fueling some of that skepticism \u2014 can be frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one Navy petty officer 1st class, getting the vaccine was a no-brainer. The petty officer said she thinks the Trump administration\u2019s mixed messaging and falsehoods about the virus\u2019 deadliness and the efficacy of wearing a mask has spilled over into vaccine skepticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople still refuse to accept that COVID is deadly, let alone be willing to get vaccinated for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want to get back to normal and getting vaccinated is the only way to get there,\u201d she told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\t