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All soldiers and U.S. Army and Navy officers will be required to vaccinate against COVID-19. The Associated Press writes about it, referring to the corresponding document of the US military department.
The decision to vaccinate US military personnel was made at the highest level. As US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin noted, he is awaiting approval from President Joe Biden. The Pentagon chief also stressed his readiness to act as quickly as possible because the United States needs healthy forces ready to fight.
The Pentagon believes that vaccination is especially important for soldiers because personnel live at military bases in barracks. In barracks, the infection can spread very quickly. This is evidenced by the examples of both US military bases in Japan on the island of Okinawa, where a coronavirus epidemic broke out in July 2020, and the US Navy aircraft carrier Theodor Roosevelt, which also saw an increase in the disease.