DOD Loosens Mask Mandates for Vaccinated Personnel, Ships Vaccine Doses Overseas for Youths

2021-06-01T14:48:23-04:00

U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) officials announced recently that fully vaccinated service personnel can shed masks when engaged in activities indoors or outdoors at most DOD facilities, but that unvaccinated individuals should continue to wear face coverings.

Dr. Terry Adirim, acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said at a May 20 briefing that the policy change brings DOD in alignment with interim guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 13.

The DOD mask relaxation guidelines apply to vaccinated individuals who are at least two weeks beyond their final dose, according to the mask policy memo issued May 13 by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks. DOD personnel must still comply with CDC guidelines regarding wearing masks when in certain locations where they are still required, such as within airports.

Increasing inoculations among service personnel

As of May 20, 58% of active duty service members had received at least one dose of the vaccine, up from just 37% with one dose a month ago, Adirim said.

“We know our fight against COVID-19 isn’t over yet,” Adirim said, “but the CDC’s announcement underscores the fact that these vaccines work: they protect the recipient and their family members, and will enable us to get back to normal.”

COVID-19 infections among DOD personnel are lower than in the civilian population, said Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency, at the briefing. However, hundreds of people in the DOD community are infected daily and there are about 29 people with the virus receiving care in military hospitals around the globe, he added.

Leveraging policy to promote more vaccinations

Adirim said that’s why DOD is redoubling efforts to encourage service members to obtain vaccinations. Commanders, she noted, could leverage personnel policies to continue to promote vaccinations.

For instance, people who are vaccinated do not have to quarantine before and after travel. “But if you’re not vaccinated, you still have to,” she said. “That’s an example of one policy.”

Commanders could also grant more liberal leave to those who decide to get vaccinated, she added.

For now, the decision to get the COVID-19 vaccination remains voluntary for service members because each is still approved by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

Adirim said that “if and when” the FDA licenses one or all the COVID-19 vaccines, “we’ll make a decision at that time” as to whether to mandate it for uniformed service personnel.

Shipping vaccines overseas for youths

DOD is also ramping up efforts to get young people vaccinated. On May 14, DOD began shipping the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 10 service-operated distribution centers in Europe, Japan, Korea and Bahrain to inoculate DOD youths ages 12 and above. This came as FDA expanded emergency use authorization of that vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

According to a news release, DOD’s Defense Logistics Agency shipped 46,800 doses on May 14, marking the first time the agency handled the minus-80-degree Celsius vaccine.

“The intent is to provide a safe, authorized and viable vaccine to protect the adolescent population before the fall school year begins,” said Army Col. Anthony Bostick, head of DLA’s operational planning team for COVID-19 vaccine operations.

“We had a short timeline to get this done, faster than our normal process for flu vaccines or the other two COVID-19 vaccines,” he said, referring to previous shipments of the Moderna vaccine, which requires storage at minus 20 degrees Celsius and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires storage at two-to-eight degrees Celsius.

Learn more

Download the May 13 DOD memo updating mask guidelines: https://rly.pt/3uGhaVG

Get the latest DOD coronavirus updates: https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/Coronavirus.

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Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jun 1 at 2021 2:59 PM

2021-06-01T14:59:17-04:00

Excellent medical share RallyPoint Shared Content

Response by CW3 Dick McManus made Jun 1 at 2021 10:18 PM

2021-06-01T22:18:06-04:00

Stupid. It is too early. We only have some 50 percent of Americans vaccinated. People are still dying and the total is now some 592,000 deaths.

Resolution to prosecute Donald Trump and other public officials for being accessories to a pandemic
WHEREAS Trump was briefed at least by January 30, 2020 that Covid-19 was very contagious and deadly similar to smallpox and the plague,

WHEREAS Trump told Americans 22 times the Corona virus would go away,

WHEREAS in September 2020 Trump pressured the CDC to downplay the threat of Covid-19 and the CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield did not resign,

WHEREAS in August 2020 Trump appointed a radiologist Dr. Scott W. Atlas to serve as an advisor on the White House Covid virus Task Force instead of an infectious disease MD and Atlas spread misinformation about COVID-19, including theories that face masks and social distancing were not effective in slowing the spread of the corona virus and he recommended faster reopening of schools and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic,

Whereas Dr. Deborah Birx said she asked herself, “Is there something that I think I can do that would be helpful in responding to this pandemic, but she did not resign and she said Trump was “attentive to the scientific literature,” praising his ability to “analyze and integrate data.”

Whereas Trump put Jared Kushner, in charge of the nation’s response to the pandemic and Kushner said, “The federal government is not going to lead this response…. It’s up to the states to figure out what they want to do.”

Whereas Paul Alexander and his boss, Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at Health and Human Services, were working to change the language officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used to warn of the dangers of the coronavirus,

WHEREAS Trump in February 2020 accused Democrats of “politicizing” the corona virus during a campaign rally claiming that the outbreak is “their new hoax,” accusing the press of being in “hysteria mode”, and downplaying the severity by comparing the number of fatalities during an average flu season,

WHEREAS Trump received a vaccination against Covid and he kept it a secret,

WHEREAS the former US Commander and Chief, Trump had the duty to protect US persons from all enemies (aka deadly threats), and one such enemy was Covid-19, a deadly and extremely contagious disease which even if the victim does not die, it can allegedly result at times in serious negative outcomes to a person’s long term health,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED we demand Trump and other US public officials be prosecuted by the US Court of jurisdiction and/or the international Criminal Court for gross negligence and reckless disregard for human life and health due to making false and unscientific statements about Covid-19.

Trump’s order did not fully “close” the U.S. off to China, as he asserts. It temporarily barred entry by foreign nationals who had traveled in China within the previous 14 days, with exceptions for the immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Americans returning from China were allowed back after screening at select ports of entry and for 14 days afterward.

More than 27,000 Americans returned from mainland China in the first month after the restrictions took effect. U.S. officials lost track of more than 1,600 of them who were supposed to be monitored for virus exposure. Nearly 40,000 Americans and authorized travelers have come into the U.S. from China since President Trump imposed travel restrictions more than two months ago, the New York Times reports.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2021 2:31 AM

2021-06-08T02:31:54-04:00

Personally I think the vaccine route is more effective than masks. Especially in the general public. How many times have you seen someone wear their mask improperly. Of course the vaccines were a little half-baked and should have been in the cooker for a bit longer, but it is what it is. Suck it up and drive on.

Response by SFC Randy Hellenbrand made Jun 10 at 2021 1:20 PM

2021-06-10T13:20:19-04:00

Good!! And the anti-vaxers should be forced to get the shot or discharged!! I had to get my shots when I enlisted. Those are no different than this and the GOP just lets it be a political football that puts our military at risk!!

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jun 21 at 2021 7:10 PM

2021-06-21T19:10:42-04:00

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