Vaccination Ordered For Military Members, Including At JBLM

LAKEWOOD, WA — All military troops are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, under a new order from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. The move will impact roughly 800,000 service members across the country who are currently unvaccinated, according to Pentagon data.

In a letter announcing the vaccine requirement, Austin directs secretaries of all military departments to "immediately begin full vaccination of all members of the Armed Forces under DoD authority."

"Mandatory vaccinations are familiar to all our Service members, and mission-critical inoculation is almost as old as the U.S. military itself," wrote Austin. "Our administration of safe, effective, COVID-19 vaccines has produced admirable results to date, and I know the Department of Defense will come together to finish the job, with urgency, professionalism, and compassion."

The new order includes military members on active duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the National Guard. The Washington Army National Guard includes more 6,000 citizen-soldiers from across the state. The military is also Pierce County's second-largest employer, with 54,000 full-time employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The group is the latest block of Washingtonians required to vaccinate, joining state firefighters, teachers and school faculty, state employees, and health care workers. Unlike those groups, who all have until mid-October to be fully vaccinated, the armed forces order only asks that troops get their vaccines as soon as possible, and that military services will need to provide regular updates on their vaccination efforts.

Also unlike previous vaccine mandates, the military says it will only mandate vaccines that have the full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The only vaccine that has been fully approved by the FDA is the Pfizer vaccine, which secured that approval Monday.

Austin's letter does mention that service members who are currently enrolled in COVID-19 clinical trials will be exempted from the vaccine requirement. It does not mention any other possible exemptions, though the military will likely offer administrative exemptions and exceptions for religious reasons. Mandates from Washington state have allowed limited exemptions for those who have medical reasons or sincerely held religious beliefs for not getting the vaccine.

As of Aug. 18, more than 1 million active duty, Guard and Reserve service members were fully vaccinated, and another 245,000 more have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, the Associated Press reported. As the AP also notes, Military members are already required to receive up to 17 different vaccines depending on where they are deployed, including shots for smallpox, polio and the flu.