{"id":58754,"date":"2021-12-10T20:59:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T20:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/12\/10\/pentagon-considering-covid-booster-mandate-for-all-troops\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:52:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:52:56","slug":"pentagon-considering-covid-booster-mandate-for-all-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/12\/10\/pentagon-considering-covid-booster-mandate-for-all-troops\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon considering COVID booster mandate for all troops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/11\/24\/vaccines-work-pentagon-says-as-surge-in-troop-covid-deaths-comes-to-a-halt\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense Department officials<\/a> are reviewing whether to make a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\">coronavirus<\/a> booster shot mandatory for all active-duty and reserve troops, but have not come to any final decisions on the need yet, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are discussions in the department about the efficacy of a booster mandatory policy as well,\u201d he told reporters during a press conference. \u201cShould there be an addition to the [department\u2019s] mandatory vaccine requirement, we will clearly communicate that and be transparent about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/vaccines\/booster-shot.html\" target=\"_blank\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> recommend that all Americans age 16 and older get both the initial two-dose COVID-19 vaccine (or the one-dose version produced by Johnson &amp; Johnson) and a booster shot six months after completing the initial regimen.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/11\/24\/vaccines-work-pentagon-says-as-surge-in-troop-covid-deaths-comes-to-a-halt\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6552051.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Vaccines work, Pentagon says, as surge in troop COVID deaths comes to a halt<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">After pandemic deaths doubled over late summer and fall, the military hasn&#039;t had any in two weeks.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this month, White House officials announced that all eligible Americans should get a booster shot \u201cas soon as possible\u201d to help counter the recent surge in COVID-19 variant cases spreading worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The military services have required all active-duty troops to be vaccinated with the initial doses, and Guard and Reserve troops to get their shots by next summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kirby said that more than 96 percent of the active duty force has gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, with 90 percent fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guard and reserve numbers are significantly lower \u2014 for the military as a whole, the fully vaccinated rate is 74 percent. However, some of those numbers could be lower because of a lag in collecting and reporting information from guard and reserve units.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/11\/10\/this-is-why-the-armys-reservists-have-until-the-end-of-june-to-get-vaccinated\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1000w_q75-4-6.jpg-6.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">This is why the Army\u2019s reservists have until the end of June to get vaccinated<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Army Guard needs more time to get to every unit, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked whether those figures were disappointing to senior leaders, Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin remains focused on getting everyone vaccinated, with the exception of a small number of individuals with medical or other issues that make the shots impractical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Secretary\u2019s expectation is 100 percent vaccination,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cThat\u2019s what he wants to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least 75 service members have died from coronavirus-related conditions since the start of the American pandemic in March 2020. Of those, 46 have come since the end of July, although no new deaths have been reported in the last few weeks as the services\u2019 mandatory vaccination deadlines arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kirby said military officials recommend all troops eligible for a booster shot get one, even if it is not mandatory. Those shots are available at military health facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No final decision has been made on whether to make the third shot required for all service members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28428,"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":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[61,101,23,89,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-58754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"N6SJH5ILDFBT5JIFJDTP5L3VWM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/12\/10\/pentagon-considering-covid-booster-mandate-for-all-troops\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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