• A third of all military personnel are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine 
• Some are citing the rushed rollout of the anthrax vaccine in the 1990s as the reason why they do not want to receive the new COVID jab
• In 1997, the military made it mandatory for service personnel to receive the anthrax shot; thousands subsequently complained of debilitating side effects 
• A lengthy legal battle ensued, before the courts determined that the FDA hadn’t ‘adequately studied’ how effective the shot was against the inhalation anthrax
• Commanders concede they need to do a better job of messaging and allaying fears among military members that they are being used as ‘testers’ for the jab 
• Other personnel are citing wild conspiracy theories about the vaccine, including one who refused the shot for fear it was implanting a tracking device  

Andrew Court – Mail Online March 2, 2021

A third of all military personnel are refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and in some units just 30% of enlistees are willing to have a shot, according to a new report.

The figure is alarming commanders as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the United States.

Personnel who refuse the vaccine will face no repercussions due to a federal law that ‘prohibits the mandatory application of medicines within the military that are not fully licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration’, The Nation reports.

At present, the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have only been granted ’emergency use authorizations’ by the FDA.

But regulators and officials say the vaccines are safe and, in the case of the Moderna and Pfizer shots, at least 94% effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 66% effective in trials, but is a single shot rather than two.

While it could take years for the shots to become fully licensed by the federal agency, the military may make the vaccine mandatory once that happens.

‘Obviously, we’re thinking about what happens when they become FDA-approved,’ Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated on Monday.

‘It would change the character of the decision-making process, about whether they could be mandatory or voluntary. But I don’t want to get ahead of that process right now.’

Some personnel are reluctant to receive the vaccine due to backlash from the military’s rushed rollout of an anthrax vaccine back in the 1990s.

In 1997, the government made it mandatory for personnel to receive the jab, but ‘huge numbers of service members complained of debilitating side effects’ and a lengthy legal battle ensued.

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