It is now required that all military service members receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a decision the government has made in hopes of protecting military members across the country and world. Here is what you need to know about mandatory COVID-19 vaccines.

What vaccine is mandatory?

You may have heard that there are several COVID-19 vaccines already in the market and being used on civilians. There are also other vaccines rapidly in construction that are set to hit the market soon. So, with several titles swirling around, we will go over the exact vaccines that are mandated now but the government for military members.

Currently only one vaccine has been FDA approved and that vaccine is the FDA-licensed Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine called Comirnaty. This vaccine is the only one currently on the list of mandatory vaccines, however, if other COVID-19 vaccines become FDA approved, we could see them added to a mandatory list in the future.

What is the deadline for getting the mandatory COVID–19 vaccine?

The separate branches of the military have decided on different deadlines for military members to be fully vaccinated by. According to themilitarywallet.com, these are the following deadlines for each branch:

  • Army: Active duty soldiers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15. Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers must be fully vaccinated by June 30, 2022.
  • Navy and Marines: Active duty service members must get vaccinated against the virus by Nov. 28. Navy and Marine Corps Reservists must be vaccinated by Dec. 28. 
  • Air Force and Space Force:  Active duty airmen must get vaccinated by Nov. 2. Airmen in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve must be vaccinated by Dec. 2. 
  • Coast Guard: Coast Guard officials have encouraged active and reserve Coast Guardsmen to get vaccinated as soon as possible, but have not yet set a deadline.

Other information regarding the mandatory COVID-19 vaccines:

-Vaccines are free (funded by taxes).

-Vaccines are administered at DOD vaccination sites, from civilian providers, at local vaccine sites, and at some pharmacies.