The Pentagon is set to require COVID-19 vaccines for members of the United States military, a memo sent by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and obtained by The Associated Press shows.
The decision will make the armed services the latest sector in the U.S. to have a vaccine mandate amid a Delta variant-fueld nationwide increase in coronavirus infections. "I will seek [President Biden's] approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September," Austin wrote in the memo, though he clarified the requirement could come into play sooner than that if the Food and Drug Administration removes the emergency use label from the currently avaible vacciners ahead of schedule.
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