President Biden is weighing whether or not he would require military service men and women to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The president says it would be a “tough call” to force our troops to get jabbed.
“I don’t know. I’m going to leave that to the military,” Biden said in a recent TV interview. “I’m not saying I won’t. I think you’re going to see more and more of them getting it.”
Currently, the Pentagon cannot make any COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory because the doses have only been authorized by the FDA for emergency use. According to congressional testimony from military officials in February, about one-third of troops have declined a shot.
Retired Army Major General Charles “Bill” McClain told KTRH he doesn’t remember soldiers who are deployed overseas having a choice on receiving medical shots in decades past. McClain served more than 33 years in the Army after he graduated from Texas A&M in 1962.
“We had to carry around a shot record card which had things like your smallpox, your tetanus, and other shots such as that,” McClain said.
A group of Congressional Democrats sent a letter to President Biden in March asking him to issue a waiver, which would make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all service members.