Soldiers Urged to Help Defeat COVID-19
Soldiers Urged to Help Defeat COVID-19
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville has some simple advice for soldiers considering whether to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
“We need to do it for society, we need to do it for the team, and we need to do it for the Army,” he said.
McConville’s remarks during a Washington Post streamed interview come at a time when being vaccinated is a choice but not an order. Vaccination rates in the Army are steadily increasing, he said, with soldiers choosing to receive a dose when their buddies are also doing it.
“If somebody doesn’t want to get it, the next person’s standing right there ready to get it,” he said. “So, I think we’re going to see a lot more coming forward. I think we’re going to see a lot more trust in the vaccinations.”
No decision has been made about whether holdouts will be ordered to be vaccinated, McConville said. “What I would like to see is that all members of the Army take a look at being part of a cohesive team and realize, for their brothers and sisters in arms, it is important that we defeat this virus,” he said.
He described COVID-19 and its variants as “the biggest threat to the American people that we have in the country right now.”
“We need to defeat this virus,” he said. “We have to get back to business as normal.”