But the middle of September is more than five weeks away, and even then, the administration has not put a deadline in place for when troops must be fully vaccinated. But he has repeatedly passed on ordering troops as their commander in chief to be injected with vaccines that have not been fully approved by the F.D.A. That rate is unacceptably low to the military because it is difficult to deploy troops who have not been inoculated to countries with stringent local restrictions and because a surge of the virus among troops can cripple readiness. “I want you to know that I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon” F.D.A. Last week, the defense secretary advised Mr. Biden that a vaccine mandate was one of the few measures available to protect troops from the virus.

Source: New York Times August 09, 2021 17:33 UTC