Abstract
The COVID-19 Pandemic has presented the United States military with a unique challenge to maintain a forward presence in support of national security while adhering to critical COVID safety practices. Evidence-based COVID safety practices such as social distancing, sheltering at home, and now vaccinating are critical in protecting service members’ health. Simultaneously, these safety measures are challenging for the U.S. military because service members live and work in close quarters, options for telework are limited, and units must continue to execute worldwide deployments. A Pandemic milestone occurred in December 2020 when the FDA approved the first of several COVID-19 vaccinations under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Force-wide vaccination is critical for the U.S. military to return to unimpeded operations and safeguard units from debilitating outbreaks. While military member vaccination is traditionally compulsory for all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- approved vaccinations, service members have had the rare choice to accept or decline the EUA COVID-19 vaccine until full FDA approval is granted. The vaccination decisions of individual service members have had significant operational, financial, and logistical impacts throughout the U.S. military. The prevention and mitigation of outbreaks across military units have required significant person- hours and financial obligations to ensure units can operate and deploy safely and on schedule. This paper discusses the historical context and current motivations behind military vaccine-hesitancy, broad operational impacts, and recommendations on addressing vaccine-hesitancy within the U.S. armed forces.
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