WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for U.S service members by mid-September, an effort by the Biden administration to combat the highly contagious Delta variant sweeping across the country.
In a letter to the U.S military, the Defense Secretary said he would seek a presidential waiver of a requirement that vaccines mandated by the Pentagon have the full approval of the Food and Drug Administration, unless the agency grants that approval first. President Biden, in a separate statement, expressed his “strong support for the move.”
“Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is a key force protection and readiness issue,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote at the bottom of the memo announcing the new rules.
