- THE EPOCH TIMES - Feb 17, 2021 -
About one-third of U.S. military troops have turned down the vaccine for the CCP virus, or the novel coronavirus, said the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. Jeff Taliaferro, a top official in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military has a two-thirds acceptance rate for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine.
“Our initial look—and this is of course very early data—is acceptance rates are somewhere in the two-thirds territory,” Taliaferro said in a hearing. “And of course, it varies by different groups.”
“We believe that, of course, the vaccine is the right thing to do. It’s clearly safe for service members,” Taliaferro said, noting that military officials want personnel to get the shot, reported Politico. “And we need to continue to educate our force and help them understand the benefits.”
Maj. Gen. Steven Nordhaus, the head of operations for the National Guard Bureau, told the panel that the National Guard had an acceptance rate of “two-thirds to 70 percent,” mirroring the military at large.
Specifically, of about 916,000 doses administered to Department of Defense (DOD) personnel, 359,000 have received at least one dose, while 147,000 are fully vaccinated, said Bob Salesses, who is acting defense secretary for homeland defense and global security, according to the Military Times.
LEIA MAIS: