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– US military leaders said on Thursday that recent problems with the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine have made it more difficult to deliver shots for overseas troops, and vaccines have been offered to families of service members or other Tier 2 beneficiaries in just 40% of the military locations outside the US. At a Pentagon press conference, they said they are making up for the Johnson & Johnson shortage by sending more Moderna vaccines to troops outside the country. The temperature and other requirements for the Pfizer vaccine make it more difficult to ship abroad. Johnson & Johnson had to throw out 15 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine last month because the batch did not meet quality standards. The loss of expected vaccines was a bigger problem for the military, the AP reports, as it targeted the Johnson & Johnson shot for overseas distribution because it only needs one dose and doesn’t require the strict temperature controls that others do. to do.
Army Lieutenant General Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency, told reporters that based on President Biden’s latest guidelines for all adults, vaccines will be offered to all eligible troops, family members and other beneficiaries starting April 19. Some troops and their families abroad have expressed frustration at their inability to get a vaccine, especially as many are in areas, including Europe, that have been hard hit by the pandemic. Place said that in many locations, the vaccines are still only offered to level 1 individuals, including deployed troops, healthcare or emergency workers, and beneficiaries 65 and older. He added that while only 7% of the Department of Defense’s eligible population is outside the US, the Pentagon sends 14% of the doses overseas. Still, to service workers or their families abroad who haven’t been vaccinated or told when they will be, “these numbers don’t mean anything,” Place said. “And it’s understandably frustrating.”
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