53% of Military Families Don’t Want COVID-19 Vaccine, Survey Shows
By Patricia Kime | 4 February 2021
MILITARY.COM –In a straw poll of 810 active-duty military personnel, spouses and veterans, more than half of active-duty families, or 53%, said they did not plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine, citing safety concerns and suspicions over development. Nearly half of veteran families agreed.
The survey was conducted by researchers with the military advocacy group Blue Star Families Dec. 10 to 14. In it, 40% of 57 active-duty service respondents said they would get the vaccine, while 49% said they would not. Another 11% said they were undecided.
Among 613 spouses of active-duty personnel, 32% said they planned to get the vaccine, 54% said they would not and 14% were undecided.
Veteran families were slightly more inclined to get the vaccine, with 41% saying they would get it, 46% saying they would not and 13% undecided.
Seven in 10 respondents said they didn’t want to get the vaccine because they didn’t trust the development process or had concerns about safety, according to the results, released Thursday. […]
Navy Will Make COVID-19 Vaccination Mandatory ‘As Soon as We Can:’ 3-Star Admiral
By Gina Harkins | 12 February 2021
MILITARY.COM — Thousands of Navy personnel are about to receive the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine ahead of an upcoming deployment — and while sailors aren’t required to take the shot yet, they soon could be.
Members of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group will get the option to receive the first dose of the vaccine for COVID-19, the sometimes-fatal illness caused by the coronavirus, on Saturday. So far, about 80% of the crew — roughly 5,000 strike group members — say they intend to get the shots, Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, U.S. Second Fleet commander, told reporters Friday.
“We cannot make it mandatory yet,” Lewis said. “I can tell you we’re probably going to make it mandatory as soon as we can, just like we do with the flu vaccine.”
Service members are required to undergo a host of immunizations. In the future, the one for the virus that caused a global pandemic, killing more than 2.3 million worldwide — including 21 U.S. troops — will likely be among them. […]
>“ … just like we do with the flu vaccine.”
I’m a little surprised to hear the military would mandate the (yearly, since they claim new influenza virus mutations every year) flu vaccine, since for the vast majority of people the flu is not all that serious — I do not recall ever skipping work due to being sick with a cold or the flu — how many people are actually correctly diagnosed with “the flu”, as opposed to the ‘common cold’, thought to be caused most of the time by a rhinovirus?
One can imagine them saying that it improves the efficiency of personnel since people are not out sick with the flu — but I bet they have no data to support that claim.
https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/program-and-policy-support/Pages/Influenza.aspx
[Influenza or “flu” has the potential to adversely impact Navy force readiness and mission execution. Vaccination is the primary method to reduce the risk of influenza. It is Department of Defense (DoD) policy that all Active Duty and Reserve Component personnel be immunized against influenza.]
“the potential” –> they have no data for/could not prove this.
Extremely interesting battle lines forming! Note the Admiral’s language: “cannot make it mandatory yet…” – and that is likely due to the fact the FDA’s “Emergency Use Authorization”(EUA) is legally very distinct from “Approval” for use. An attorney at RFK jr’s group has stated categorically: federal employment (etc) law is clear: neither public or private employers may mandate a medical treatment that only has EUA – that counts as “experimental”
(Elon Musk – that most curious character – I think has referred to this as “the Hitler problem”)
So, THAT also will be a major 2021 battle: How and When does the FDA move to “approve” these potions. That will change things.