Army Spc. Tristan Spoerri, with the Utah National Guard Medical Detachment, administers the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a soldier on Camp Williams, Utah, Sept. 11, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Alejandro Lucero)
WASHINGTON, DC — By mid-December, all U.S. active-duty servicemembers will either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or have received an approved exemption from their service branch.
That’s according to the DoD, which announced in mid-September that the Army, Navy and Air Force had finalized their deadlines for all active-duty, Reserves and National Guard personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Deadlines for Reserves and the National Guard were generally set later, because they usually only meet periodically.On Aug. 24, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered that all uniformed personnel be mandated to receive the shot. That was the same day the Food and Drug Administration approved Comirnaty (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA). That product and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) have the same formulation and can be used interchangeably to provide the COVID-19 vaccination series, according to DoD.
Healthcare providers are authorized to use both the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine interchangeably for the purpose of vaccinating servicemembers, according to a press release.
By mid-September, “more than 80% of active-duty soldiers have received at least their first dose,” said Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Terence Kelley. “These dates are readiness goals, and as with any other readiness requirement, soldiers are required to receive the vaccine when it is available and directed by their commander.”
Here are the deadlines:
- Army: Dec. 15, 2021, for active-duty and, for Army reservists and the National Guard, the deadline for full vaccination is June 30, 2022.
- Air Force: Nov. 2, 2021, for active-duty airmen and Dec. 2 for reserves and the Air National Guard.
- Navy: Nov. 28, 2021, for active-duty sailors and marines, and a month later, Dec. 28, 2021, for reservists.
Logistics for delivering the vaccines are being handled by the individual military services. Each service is also handling requests for exemption from the COVID-19 vaccines for religious, health or administrative reasons.
Servicemembers are considered fully immunized 14 days after receipt of either the second dose with Pfizer’s or Moderna’s two-shot vaccines, or 14 days after a single dose of the Janssen vaccine.
“This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live,” said Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle. “Case counts and deaths continue to be concerning as the Delta variant spreads, which makes protecting the force through mandatory vaccination a health and readiness priority for the total Army.”
