Biden administration considers proposal to end military COVID vaccine mandate

[groundloop]

Source: Reuters


President Joe Biden's administration is mulling a proposal from Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to repeal the U.S. military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the White House said on Saturday.

McCarthy, who is vying to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, earlier told Fox News he had won bipartisan agreement to lift the mandate at a White House meeting with Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

[snip]

But the White House said Biden had agreed only to consider the idea.

"Leader McCarthy raised this with the president and the president told him he would consider it," said White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton. "The secretary of defense has recommended retaining the mandate, and the president supports his position. Discussions about the NDAA are ongoing."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-mulls-ending-us-military-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-2022-12-03/

---

[TheRealNorth]

1. If it keeps the Red Hats out of the military....

I think that is a good thing.

[bluestarone]

2. I hope he considers it,

For 1 minute. Then tells McCarthy to shove it. (my personal opinion)

[elleng]

3. Ditto

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Same. ❤️

[onetexan]

20. +1 -K&R!!

[ColinC]

5. Why would you end Covid mandates and keep flu vaccine and other mandates?

[mountain grammy]

7. Exactly!

[Bleacher Creature]

6. Why? It's an issue of military readiness

And if we do this, what other vaccines do we not require?

[republianmushroom]

8. One step forward, two steps back. love it

[groundloop]

9. McCarthy is lying.... Biden just said he'd think about it, there's no agreement

McCarthy is lying in an attempt to shore up his bona-fides to become Speaker.

[oldsoftie]

33. Yeah, I remember my dad telling me he'd "think about it" when I wanted a bigger allowance

[Slammer]

41. When my kids would tell me they wanted something...

I'd say "I understand".

I never lied by telling them "yes" in hopes of avoiding arguments or tantrums.

I simply acknowledged that I heard and understood their desires. And the vast majority of the time, that was all they really needed.

Seems like it would work with childish politicians.

[DashOneBravo]

10. This is probably driving some of that

“The Army missed its recruitment goal for fiscal 2022 by 25% or 15,000 soldiers”

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/10/26/us-army-struggles-to-find-recruits-its-needs-to-win-fight-of-future.html

I don’t know about the other services.

[maxrandb]

22. The military is missing recruitment goals because of the red hot economy

In my opinion, it has nothing to do with COVID Vaccines.

I served 28.5 years in the US Navy. They last thing on my mind when I joined was whatever frickin vaccines I would be required to take.

Folks join the military for a lot of different reasons, but it is always true that, when jobs in the private sector are plentiful, it is harder to make recruitment goals.

During my time on recruiting duty, RAY-gun and then Retrumplican Party of the 80's so fucked over the American middle class, I could sit at the VFW in Mayesville, KY and make goal.

They never asked me of I "objected" to any vaccine. In boot camp, they lined us up and used an air-gun to vaccinate us. When we deployed, I took malaria pills. In some cruises, we took special boosters to protect us from various diseases. We took the Hepatitis vaccine.

The only time I ever considered questioning a vaccine was with the Anthrax Vaccine, and fortunately, I was never posted to a billet that would require it.

It is the economic opportunities that are causing less people to sign-up. They simply have more options now.

Now, I could make an argument for 2 years of mandatory service, but that's would be for another post.

[oldsoftie]

34. I agree. And I agree with some mandatory service too

Especially if you decide to drop out of high school.

[Farmer-Rick]

23. It looks like the Navy didn't make it's 2022 goals either

They didn't even make their officer goals which is unusual but not unheard of.

I think the services are suffering from the tight labor market. But also in the Navy, they changed their sea shore rotation thanks to all the privatization of once military functions.

So, sailors spend a lot more time out to sea then before W and Cheney overworked and underpaid the active military. This lack of shore rotation leads to a lot of burnout, PTSD and word gets out about how bad the work is. Parents then start discouraging their kids from going in.

Also retirement requirements have become very miserly. No longer an you retire at 20 years with half pay and lifetime medical benefits. You have to put in 30 years and the medical benefits for those over 65 is just Medicare, unless you have a disability.

[oldsoftie]

36. How is the Navy different from the Air Force? They still have 20yr retirement.

Arent all the services the same?

[Farmer-Rick]

38. Yes, you can retire at 20 but you don't get half pay

Now it is prorated. Your retirement benefit is determined by your years of service. It's calculated at 2 to 2.5 times your highest 36 months of basic pay. You start being eligible at 20 years but you don't get to 50%. They have some rather elaborate calculations depending on when you go in and which plan you take.

I doubt the Air Force is having trouble recruiting. They never seem to have a problem with it and even has waiting lists sometimes. We use to tease AF recruiters because they really didn't need to recruit......much like the Marines but for different reasons.

[maxrandb]

58. Well, the Air Force spends all its funding on Golf Courses and Housing

then goes back to Congress to complain they have no money for runways.

The Air Force seemed to always have any easier time making goal than we did, at least they did when I was recruiting for the Navy.

Pretty much, in terms of what branch recruits wanted to join, it went something like this order

- Air Force
- Navy
- Marines (don't ask me why)
- Army

[Slammer]

43. I'd rather recruit

...people who understand and agree with their contracted terms of service than to have a larger number of people who can't be reliably deployed.

As always YMMV.

[Evolve Dammit]

11. Fuck that. Our troops deserve the best protection against diseases that we can give them.

They and their fellow soldiers would benefit. Even Washington's troops received inoculations against disease. I imagine those needles were no fun in the 1700's.

[Slammer]

44. sharing is caring

I imagine they shared needles back then since they didn't understand germs or viruses.

[Evolve Dammit]

48. Good question but don't know the answer. Probably?

[Evolve Dammit]

49. Also, it was probably a wooden needle. No plastics or glass? Glass maybe.

[Slammer]

51. at that point in history

...I've read that quills or glass tubes were used for needles. But I don't know specifically what the army actually used.

I'd guess quills because they'd be more easy to obtain.

[Evolve Dammit]

53. ouch. Porcupine quills have a natural anti-biotic but doubt they knew that then?

[C Moon]

12. This is coming on the heels of musk allowing COVID disinformation on Twitter.

I smell a rat.
The GOP would love COVID to flourish again.

[pandr32]

13. No! Enough of anti-vax nonsense.

We shouldn't entertain this nonsense as though it seriously deserves consideration.

[SouthernDem4ever]

14. +1000

[Seeking Serenity]

29. I agree. I want to see the vaccine made mandatory nationwide

With refusal made a federal felony crime, punishable by a minimum 10 years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine.

That'll compel compliance. And, as an added bonus, those MAGAts that still refuse to get vaccinated and boosted will get convicted of a felony and thus lose their voting rights.

Win-win

[oldsoftie]

35. I don't think that would be legal in any way.

[Seeking Serenity]

37. Why wouldn't it? Public health and safety are well within the power of the federal government (n/t)

[oldsoftie]

40. Because the govt cant legally force you to take a vaccine.

They CAN stop you from going to school, or flying or other things. But they cant legally MAKE you get a shot

[Seeking Serenity]

42. We elected this government, so we say they can

What is point of having power if we don't use it?

[oldsoftie]

45. You've got to be kidding. We don't elect a govt with limitless powers.

Where do you get this nonsense?

[Seeking Serenity]

46. I didn't say anything about limitless power

But the power to protect public health and safety is clearly a legitimate function of government.

You don't have to get the vaccine, you just risk a felony conviction (and the concurrent loss of your voting rights) for not getting it. But you're perfectly free to take that risk.

[oldsoftie]

47. Wow. Thank god your train of thought is not in the majority.

Or we'd be in deep shit quickly. Or if the GOP was voted in

[Seeking Serenity]

52. "Or if the GOP was voted in"

Whatever GOP might be voted in again (and that's an if), it won't be a MAGA GOP. That so-called movement is a walking corpse. If the GOP is ever voted in as a majority again in our lifetimes, it will be a severely neutered one, one that won't have the kind of popular support to do what you fear. Like it or not, we are in control.

Trump is dead.

[oldsoftie]

56. Remember, Biden won in '20 by just over 40,000 votes. Thats hardly a mandate.

And while I certainly, CERTAINLY agree & hope that Trump IS dead, your statement that a future GOP win wouldnt have support do do whatever doesnt matter. Because in your opinion, if you WIN, you have control. Thats why we have a Constitution; to reign in a government that thinks it can do ANYTHING just because it was elected.

[Ace Rothstein]

55. This is one of the craziest proposals I've ever seen here.

It would be tied up in courts for a while and we'd get absolutely crushed in elections which is why we'd never propose anything like this.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Keep COVID military vaccine mandate, defense chief says

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he wants to keep the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place to protect the health of the troops, as Republican governors and lawmakers press to rescind it.

This past week more than 20 Republican governors sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking that the administration remove the mandate, saying it has hurt the U.S. National Guard’s ability to recruit troops. Those troops are activated by governors to respond to natural disasters or unrest.

Congress may consider legislation this coming week to end the mandate as a requirement to gather enough support to pass this years’ defense budget, which is already two months late.

-snip-

“We lost a million people to this virus," Austin told reporters traveling with him Saturday. “A million people died in the United States of America. We lost hundreds in DOD. So this mandate has kept people healthy.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/keep-covid-military-vaccine-mandate-defense-chief-says/ar-AA14S5wJ

Fuck the Republican chickenhawks.

[70sEraVet]

25. If Republican governors are complaining that they can't recruit enough people for their

National Guard, they SHOULD be writing letters to FOX News telling that network to stop the crazy talk demonizing Dr. Fauci and the Covid vaccines, and to start some honest reporting on the success of the vaccines.
Biden shouldn't shut down the mandate, which has saved lives, just to appease politicians who wish to capitalize on the lies.

[justhanginon]

31. Yes, I agree! If you are too stupid to get vaccinated you don't belong

in any branch of service. As to the National Guard, an outbreak could cripple any possible immediate response to a state emergency such as floods, hurricanes, riots or other disasters.

[patphil]

16. When I was in the Air Force, you got vaccinated, no questions asked, no choice.

It was part of assuring readiness. You can't have a pandemic raging through the ranks. It would make it hard to react to a critical military situation.

I suppose you could be given the option to resign if it didn't have a negative impact on readiness.

[Hekate]

17. Which other vaccines to the crazies want to eliminate? Tetanus? Smallpox? Polio? All?

https://www.newsweek.com/list-vaccines-mandated-us-military-covid-1641228

The DoD already administers 17 different vaccines to service members—outlined in the "Joint Regulation on Immunization and Chemoprophylaxis for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases."

These are the mandatory vaccinations that all service members are required to receive before initial entry or basic training:

Adenovirus
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Influenza
Measles, mumps, rubella
Meningococcal
Poliovirus
Tetanus-Diphtheria
Varicella

Other vaccines administered depending on risk and occupation:

Anthrax
Haemophilus influenzae type B
Japanese encephalitis
Pneumococcal
Rabies
Smallpox
Typhoid fever
Yellow fever

[Evolve Dammit]

50. good info.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

59. As an Army civilian ...

I had to get about half of those when the Army sent me to various vacation spots - Siberia in the December and Baghdad in July, Moldova & Albania, Riyadh and Beirut, etc.

I had the option of refusing but then I would not have been allowed to travel and might have lost my job. It is not just those uniformed service members that the military is taking care of with immunizations. It is a matter of welfare as much as readiness. Not to mention avoiding the economic costs of sick service members, to both the government and the families.

Or so it seems to me.

[Lars39]

18. Concerted effort by the rw loons...

https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/governor-bill-lee-calls-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-armed-forces-a-national-security-risk/

[tirebiter]

19. Keep thinking about it

Until it disappears

[ZonkerHarris]

21. Please remember that Kevin McCarthy is an idiot.

[truthisfreedom]

24. I've been exceedingly lucky in not getting Covid

But many of my friends have had mild cases, sometimes lasting only two days, and I’m really proud of having convinced so many people around me to get every shot the moment they become available. These modern vaccines are obviously very effective and my opinion is trust them. I get every vaccine I can. Flu, Shingrix, Covid… I only wish there were more!

[70sEraVet]

26. I was in the Navy nearly 50 years ago, now. The ships may be a good bit roomier than in my day,

but my guess is, on many ships, there is no way to quarentine a sizeable percentage of sailors who have an infectious disease.

[TexasBushwhacker]

27. Imagine the ones on submarines! N/t

[Martin68]

28. As a matter of national security I doubt that's a good idea. Everyone in the service should be

vaccinated.

[justhanginon]

30. Incredibly stupid idea from a medical standpoint and you know damn well

that when the cases rise and the base hospitals fill up Republicans will gleefully blame President Biden and the Democratic party. A lose, lose situation.

[Grins]

32. Don't fall into this trap!

He’s trying to create an issue where there is none just so the Reich-wing has another meme to bitch about.

Default to the Surgeons General in the services. They all have them, and understand better what is required than the vile pimp from Bakersfield.

[Richard D]

39. What could ever so possibly go wrong with that idea?

More seditionists in the military?
Massive vector for new waves?

[DemocraticPatriot]

54. And why don't we just eliminate military vaxx mandates for

measles, smallpox, polio and any other major disease, while we are at it.... ??


NOT.

[Martin68]

57. The administration is "mulling" the proposal, which is a polite way to say they didn't laugh in

McCarthy's face. This is a GOP proposal without a shred of merit.