The Department of Defense says about one-third of troops offered the COVID vaccine have refused it. That’s according to a Stars and Stripes report.
Pentagon officials declined to provide the information about the number of troops vaccinated until Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL) recently requested it, according to the report.
The Pentagon’s homeland defense chief, Robert Salesses, says that about 147,000 troops have been fully vaccinated, while another 212,000 have received the first of their two doses.
The Pentagon cannot mandate the vaccine since it has only been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on an emergency basis, says Stars and Stripes.
Pentagon officials say they want more service members and other members of the Defense Department community to accept the vaccinations, and they are continuing to educate the forces about the vaccines’ safety and benefits.
One-third of troops refusing coronavirus vaccine
