{"id":120380,"date":"2021-08-05T14:04:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T14:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/05\/dod-could-announce-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy-as-early-as-friday-reports\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:09:27","slug":"dod-could-announce-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy-as-early-as-friday-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2021\/08\/05\/dod-could-announce-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy-as-early-as-friday-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD could announce mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as early as Friday: reports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following a rise in COVID-19 cases attributed to the delta variant of the virus, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/regulation\/defense\/566424-austin-expected-to-seek-authorization-to-make-vaccine-mandatory-for-active?rl=1\" target=\"_blank\">multiple<\/a> media outlets are reporting that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will seek authority to mandate vaccines for the entire active-duty force. Fox News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/sec-of-defense-austin-to-announce-mandatory-vaccine-policy-for-all-active-duty-military\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a> that Austin is expected to formally announce a mandatory vaccine policy for active-duty troops on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, vaccines for COVID-19 are not fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration and approval for use was granted under an emergency authorization. As a result, mandating the vaccine for military members requires a waiver from President Joe Biden. Fox News reports that Austin will ask for a waiver from Biden on Thursday, followed by formal guidance to the DoD on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move toward mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for active-duty military personnel comes a week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/07\/29\/biden-orders-pentagon-to-consider-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination\/\" target=\"_blank\">after<\/a> the Pentagon announced that DoD was in the process of consultations to \u201cdetermine how and when\u201d to recommend to Biden about adding COVID-19 vaccines to the list of mandatory immunizations troops receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin, while traveling in the Philippines last week, told a news conference that he would consult with medical professionals and the services on a timeline for implementing a new policy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/08\/04\/politics\/austin-pentagon-vaccine-mandate\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">according to CNN<\/a>. \u201cBut we won\u2019t let grass grow under our feet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe President directed us to do something and we\u2019ll get after it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thursday morning, the Pentagon declined comment on reports that Austin would recommend to Biden mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for troops, instead deferring to statements spokesman John Kirby made on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe secretary obviously wants to consult medical professionals as well as the services,\u201d Kirby said at the time. \u201cAnd as you know, the way the process works is he would have to request a waiver from the president to \u2014 to waive the emergency use authorization as the justification for making it involuntary. So that, as far as I know, has not occurred yet. But I, again, would point you back to what the secretary said. He\u2019s not going to let grass grow under his feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe delta variant has certainly affected us here in the military as it has affected the rest of the country,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cAnd when we have more to say about the status of the vaccines, we\u2019ll certainly do that. I don\u2019t think it will be very long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The announcement last week that DoD was exploring the requirement of a COVID-19 vaccine for personnel came as Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/07\/28\/dod-mask-mandates-are-coming-back-for-certain-covid-19-hotspots\/\" target=\"_blank\">ordered<\/a> that unvaccinated federal civilian workers and contractors would be subject to mandatory testing, social distancing, and masking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Department of Defense is moving quickly to meet President Biden\u2019s commitment to defeat COVID-19, and that includes being able to ensure every member of our civilian and military workforce is protected,\u201d Jamal Brown, deputy Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Fox News, about 64 percent of the active-duty-force is fully vaccinated, while 70 percent have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Overall, roughly half of the United States is fully vaccinated, and 58 percent of Americans have had at least one dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control reports more than a 64 percent increase COVID-19 cases over the last week. The spike in cases puts caseloads on par with levels in February of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This is a developing story. Stay with Military Times for updates.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is seeking authority to mandate vaccines for the entire active-duty force, which could happen by Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","coronavirus","pentagon-congress"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["your-army","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","coronavirus","pentagon-congress"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["your-marine-corps","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","coronavirus","pentagon-congress"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","coronavirus","pentagon-congress"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[82,15,86,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3426],"class_list":["post-120380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-news","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"O4Q4QGSJPVFKBAPOUOFBUXB7PQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/08\/05\/dod-could-announce-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy-as-early-as-friday-reports\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DoD could announce mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as early as Friday: reports - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is seeking authority to mandate vaccines for the entire active-duty force, which could happen by Friday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DoD could announce mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as early as Friday: reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is seeking authority to mandate vaccines for the entire active-duty force, which could happen by Friday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2021\/08\/05\/dod-could-announce-mandatory-covid-19-vaccine-policy-as-early-as-friday-reports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-05T14:04:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T14:09:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James R. 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