COVID-19 Vaccine Deadline Approaches For Active Duty Military Members

Members of the United States military are facing a looming requirement - get the COVID-19 vaccine or potentially face punishment.

Branches of the military have set different deadlines after the Department of Defense mandated the shots a couple of months ago.

For the Navy, it's November 28th, the Army, December 15th.

And for members of the Air Force, their deadline was last Tuesday.

"The issue with the military has always been, we need a healthy military to do its job," said Dr. Mary Clarke.

Dr. Clarke is the president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association and says vaccine requirements for the military are nothing new.

Right now, the Department of Defense already administers 17 vaccines to service members with different requirements based on risk and location.

"There are additional vaccines including yellow fever and some of the more unusual vaccines you might see in the United States that are required for certain personnel depending on where they'd be deployed,” said Clarke.

The military offers exemptions for certain health conditions and on religious grounds.

But not everyone is on board.

Numbers from October show that 7 percent of Marines have not gotten a COVID-19 shot and right now lawsuits from members of all branches are pending asking the DOD to overturn the mandate.

Clarke says no matter what, most people enrolling in the military can expect a lot of shots.

"They will be required to be immunized. Period,” said Clarke. “There is up until now been really no question."

A company called CHS and Associates just completed a poll in Oklahoma about COVID-19.

It found that 60 percent of Oklahomans believe the government should not interfere in private businesses making decisions on whether or not to vaccinate employees.

That poll did not ask about the military though.