WASHINGTON (AP) – By thousands, US service members refuse or delay the COVID-19 vaccine as frustrated commanders scramble to take down Internet rumors and find the right pitch that will convince troops to take the photo.
Some military units believe that only a third agree to the vaccine. Military leaders in search of answers think they have identified one potential persuader: an impending deployment. For example, navy sailors on ships that took to sea last week chose to take the chance with rates in excess of 80% to 90%.
Air Force Major General Jeff Taliaferro, the Joint Staff’s deputy director of operations, told Congress on Wednesday that “very early data” suggests that only two-thirds of service workers who offered the vaccine accepted.
That’s higher than the percentage for the general population, which was about 50%, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the significant number of forces rejecting the vaccine is especially concerning as troops often live, work and fight close together in environments where social distance and mask wearing are sometimes difficult.
The resistance of the army also comes when troops are deployed to take off shots at vaccination centers across the country and as leaders look to US troops to set an example for the nation.
“We are still struggling with what the message is and how we influence people to choose the vaccine,” said Brig. Gene. Edward Bailey, the surgeon for Army Forces Command. He said that in some units, only 30% have agreed to the vaccine, while others are between 50% and 70%. Forces Command oversees large army units, with approximately 750,000 Army, Reserve, and National Guard soldiers at 15 bases.
In Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where several thousand troops are preparing for future deployment, the vaccine acceptance rate is about 60%, Bailey said. That’s “not as high as we would hope for frontline personnel,” he said.
Bailey has heard every apology.
“I think the funniest one I heard was, ‘The military is always telling me what to do, they gave me a choice, so I said no,’” he said.
Service leaders have campaigned vigorously for the vaccine. They have held town halls, written messages to the police, distributed scientific data, posted videos, and even distributed photos of leaders being vaccinated.
For weeks, the Pentagon insisted that it did not know how many troops rejected the vaccine. On Wednesday, they gave little detail about their early data.
However, officials from individual military services said in interviews with The Associated Press that bounce rates vary widely depending on a service member’s age, unit, location, deployment status, and other intangible assets.
The variations make it more difficult for leaders to determine which arguments in favor of the vaccine are most compelling. The Food and Drug Administration has allowed emergency use of the vaccine, so it’s voluntary. But Defense Department officials say they hope this will change soon.
“We can’t make it mandatory just yet,” said Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis, commander of the Navy’s 2nd Fleet, last week. “I can tell you that we will probably make it mandatory as soon as possible, just like with the flu vaccine.”
About 40 Marines recently gathered in a conference room in California for an information session of medical personnel. An officer, who was not authorized to discuss private conversations in public and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Marines are more comfortable asking questions about the vaccine in smaller groups.
The officer said that, referring to a widespread and false conspiracy theory, a Marine said, “I heard this thing is actually a tracking device.” The medical staff, the officer said, quickly debunked that theory, pointing to the Marine’s cell phone and noting that it is an effective tracker.
Other frequently asked questions were about possible side effects or health problems, including for pregnant women. Army, Navy, and Air Force officials say they hear about the same thing.
The Marine Corps is a relatively small service and the troops are generally younger. As with the general population, younger service workers are more likely to decline or ask to wait. In many cases, military commanders said, younger troops say they’ve had the coronavirus or known others who had it, concluding that it wasn’t bad.
“What they don’t see is that 20-year-olds who have gotten really sick, have been hospitalized or have died, or the people who appear to be fine, but then they turn out to have developed lung and heart defects,” Bailey said.
One bright spot are the implementations.
Lewis, based in Norfolk, Virginia, said last week that sailors on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which operates in the Atlantic Ocean, agreed to shoot about 80%. Sailors on the USS Iwo Jima and Marines in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which are also deployed, had rates in excess of 90%.
Bailey said the military sees opportunities to shorten the two-week quarantine period for units sent to Europe if the service workers are largely vaccinated and the host country agrees. US Army Europe can shorten the quarantine time to five days if 70% of the unit is vaccinated, and that incentive could work, he said.
Acceptance rates are falling among those not deployed, military officials said.
General James McConville, the Army Chief of Staff, used his own experience to encourage troops to get vaccinated. “When they asked me how it felt, I said it was much less painful than some of the meetings I go to at the Pentagon.”
Colonel Jody Dugai, commander of Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital in Fort Polk, Louisiana, said squadron-level talks with eight to 10 colleagues have been successful so far, and getting more information helps.
At the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Brig. General David Doyle has a double challenge. As base commander, he must convince the nearly 7,500 soldiers on the base to get the shot and make sure the thousands of troops cycling in and out for training drills are safe.
Doyle said the acceptance rate on his base is between 30% and 40%, and it is usually the younger troops who are in decline.
“They tell me they don’t have much faith in the vaccine because they feel it was done too soon,” he said. Top health officials have confirmed the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
Doyle said it appears that colleagues often have more influence than leaders in convincing troops – a sentiment echoed by Bailey, the army surgeon.
“We’re trying to find out who the influencers are,” said Bailey. “Is it a squad leader or a platoon sergeant in the army? I think it probably is. Someone who is older and interacts with them more often than the general officer who takes his picture and says, “I got the chance.” ″
AP National Security writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.