Senator Blackburn’s continuing call to end the Covid vaccination mandate for military members is fool hardy and ignorant of the military’s vaccination policy and its entire ethos. Paul Walkman’s option piece in the Dec 6 WAPO explains: “No servicemember should have to choose between serving our country and a shot,” says Sen. Blackburn, echoing a frequent GOP claim. In fact, that’s what every servicemember does. To join the military, you must be vaccinated against adenovirus, meningitis, hepatitis, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus and chickenpox. Don’t like it? Then you don’t have to join up.
You’ll also have to have periodic boosters as necessary, and depending on where you’re deployed, you might need to get additional vaccines. There are narrow medical and religious exceptions that require extensive administrative review in order to be granted, but you don’t get to say, “I don’t want this vaccine, because this guy I watch on YouTube said Bill Gates put a microchip in it.”
The military is a hierarchical organization that, for better or worse, puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on following orders. If you’re a free spirit who wants to decide for yourself what you’re going to wear, how you’ll style your hair, what time you’ll get up in the morning, or what vaccines you want to get, the military probably isn’t for you.
This also isn’t some arbitrary edict with no practical purpose. Covid-19 has killed more than a million Americans, and even for those who are young and healthy enough to survive infection, it can be debilitating and have long-term health effects. It’s passed through the air, and given that military service often requires being in close quarters with large numbers of people for extended periods of time, there is great potential for the virus to spread. The more it does, the more harm is done to the military’s ability to do its job.
I would much prefer that all of you were talking about ridding the military of members who either can’t or won’t follow legitimate orders. While I lament any loss of talent that might happen if service members are allowed to decide what shots they will / won’t accept, the overall effect on military readiness will be positive. Military members can’t be given a choice about everything they’re asked to do.
Please let these facts guide your decision either to support a military with discipline or to turn the military into some sort of disorganized circus.
