Pentagon to Mandate Coronavirus Vaccine as Delta Spreads
- Biden directed Pentagon to determine how and when to add shots
- Defense Department had cited vaccine’s emergency use status
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The Defense Department will make vaccinations against Covid-19 mandatory for members of the U.S. military by Sept. 15 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads globally, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Monday.
“I want you to know that I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon” approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “whichever comes first,” Austin said in a memo to all department employees. citing the rise in infection rates “and the impact those rates might have on our readiness.”