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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 to forces abroad, and that vaccines in only 40% of the relatives of members or other Tier 2 beneficiaries were offered. military sites outside the US. At a Pentagon press conference, they said they were compensating for the Johnson & Johnson shortage by sending more Moderna vaccines to forces outside the country. The temperature and other requirements for the Pfizer vaccine make it more difficult to ship overseas. Johnson & Johnson had to discard 15 million doses of coronavirus vaccine last month because the group did not meet the standards. The AP reported that the loss of expected vaccines was a bigger problem, according to the AP, because it targeted the Johnson & Johnson shot for distribution overseas, as it requires only one dose and does not require the strict temperature control that others do. not.
Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, director of the Defense Agency, told reporters that on April 19, based on President Biden’s latest guidance for all adults, all eligible troops, family members and other beneficiaries, vaccines would be offered. becomes from 19 April. Some troops and their families abroad have expressed frustration over their inability to get a vaccine, especially as many are in areas, including in Europe, that have been hit hard by the pandemic. Place said that in many places the vaccines are still offered only to Tier 1 individuals, including troops deployed, health or emergency workers and beneficiaries aged 65 and over. He added that although only 7% of the population eligible for the Department of Defense is outside the U.S., the Pentagon sends 14% of the doses it receives abroad. For service members or their families abroad who have not yet been vaccinated or told when they are going to do so, “these numbers mean nothing,” Place said. “And it’s understandably frustrating.”
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