U.S. Army Spc. Ying Chen, assigned to Joint Task Force COVID-19, New York National Guard, prepares a dosage of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Camp Smith Training Site Medical Readiness Clinic, N.Y., on December 18, 2020. The New York National Guard is participating in a Department of Defense vaccine pilot program in which 44,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are being administered to front line medical personnel at 16 locations around the world. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Pietrantoni)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
WASHINGTON – PENTAGON – The Biden Pentagon said the Department of Defense will be ready to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all eligible beneficiaries by May 1, in keeping with a White House announcement that on that date, all Americans will be able to get vaccinated if they want to. Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim and Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director, Defense Health Agency, provided a COVID-19 update to the media at the Pentagon Friday Mar. 26, 2021.
“Based on the projections that we have, both supply side and vaccination side, we do fully expect to be open to all … of our DOD eligible populations on or before the first of May. At current uptake rates for those who want to get it, we think by the middle of July or so … the department will be vaccinated.”
-Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director of the Defense Health Agency said .
Army Lt. Gen. Place stressed that depending on the rate at which the DOD can get vaccines, and the uptake rate — that’s the number of personnel who step forward to get vaccinated — it’s possible that by early summer, every person in the DOD could be vaccinated.
“While there’s some lag in DOD data transmission to the CDC, we’ve currently administered more than 1.8 million doses of vaccine to over 1.1 million eligible DOD beneficiaries. These figures include service members, military retirees and family members, and certain DOD civilians and contractors. Over 600,000 of our service members, active, Reserve and National Guard, and of those — of those 600,000 received at least one dose of the vaccine, representing approximately 30 percent of the force. It’s important to note that about 60 percent of our military personnel are in that final tier of our vaccination priorities — that is, generally young without underlying health conditions and not currently required in an operational mission,” Place said.
As of Thursday, the VA had administered 3,851,556 vaccine doses to veterans and employees and has vaccinated nearly 1.6 million individuals fully.
(credit: Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times ) Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim (Left) and Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director, Defense Health Agency, provide a COVID-19 update to the media at the Pentagon in Washington DC March 26, 2021.
“We are committed to contributing to the president achieving his goal of 200 million shots in 100 days,”
-said Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim.
Military Administering COVID Vaccine at 343 Sites around World
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / U.S. Defense Department to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all eligible beneficiaries by May 1, 2021. Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim and Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director, Defense Health Agency, provide a COVID-19 update to the media in the Pentagon in Washington DC March 26, 2021.
Place said right now that the military health system is administering COVID vaccine at 343 sites around the world. Also, he said, there are almost 3,000 military personnel providing vaccination support to FEMA-led community vaccination sites around the country.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO / Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director, Defense Health Agency, provided a COVID-19 update to the media at the Pentagon Friday Mar. 26, 2021.
Within the department, Place said, more than 600,000 service members from all three components have gotten at least their first COVID-19 vaccine
(credit: Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times ) Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director, Defense Health Agency, provide a COVID-19 update to the media in the Pentagon in Washington DC March 26, 2021.
“A special thanks goes out to our superbly trained enlisted medical forces carrying out these responsibilities with compassion and with distinction,” Place said.
Within the department, Place said, more than 600,000 service members from all three components have gotten at least their first COVID-19 vaccine.
Many U.S. Service Members Hesitant to Take COVID 19 Vaccine
Despite a massive effort by the Pentagon to promote the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, the US military’s opt-out rate for vaccinations may be far higher than the 33% figure defense officials have used publicly, CNN reported. The acceptance rate at Fort Bragg, one of the military’s largest bases with about 57,000 military personnel, was just below 60%, an army official said, according to CNN. It was below 50% last month, but it has been slowly rising.
Adirim said she hopes that more service members will step forward to take whatever COVID-19 vaccine is eventually offered to them because doing so is the key to getting the nation back on track.
“Vaccination is one critical part of getting our country back to normal, along with continued testing and adherence to public health measures like masking and social distancing,” Adirim said. “We just can’t let up at this point.”
