WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pentagon officials said that about one-third of the US military are declining to receive the Covid-19
vaccine, despite significant coronavirus infection levels in the forces.
Major General Jeff Taliaferro revealed the high refusal rate in
Congressional hearing, as the US Defense Department continues to classify
covid vaccines as optional because they have yet to receive full approval
from the Federal Drug Administration.
“Acceptance rates are somewhere in the two-thirds territory,” said
Taliaferro, stressing that the figure is based on “very early data.”
Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said that there was no detailed military-
wide data on vaccinations, but said more than 916,500 had been administered so far.
Kirby said the level of refusal is on par with that of the general
population, where the vaccine has not been offered nearly as widely.
“We in the military basically mirror the acceptance rates of American
society,” Kirby told reporters.
The government has tapped the military and National Guard to help
vaccinate the general public people. Kirby said that by the end of this
week, more than one million members of the military will have received
vaccine shots.
The Pentagon makes most standard vaccinations mandatory for military
personnel.
But because the covid vaccines have only been approved on an emergency
basis, they cannot be forced on people, Kirby said.
“There is a real limit, legally, that we have, to make it mandatory for
our troops and their families.”
He noted that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has received the vaccine.
“What the secretary wants is for the men and women of the department to
make the best and most informed decision for them and their health and the health of their families,” Kirby said.
Meanwhile, life expectancy in the United States fell by a whole year in the first half of 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic started to grip the country, official figures showed.
Life expectancy at birth for the total US population was 77.8 years, declining by a year from 78.8 in 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Minorities were the hardest hit, with life expectancy decreasing three years for non-Hispanic Blacks and nearly two years for the Hispanic population.
Life expectancy at birth in the first half of last year was the lowest level since 2006, the report said, though it said the figures were provisional as the US continues to count the cost of the pandemic.
The figures “do not reflect the entirety of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, or other changes in causes of death, such as the increases in provisional drug overdose deaths,” it said.
Minorities have suffered high Covid fatalities partly due to employees who cannot work from home, larger households and poorer access to health care including testing.
The country has so far registered 490,000 coronavirus deaths, by far the highest national death toll anywhere in the world. — NNN-AGENCIES
