BeauGeste
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2020
- Messages
- 43
Just to be clear, I'm in the 60+ category, and I voluntarily took the Moderna vaccine. My main beef is forcing a vaccine on the very healthy young when: 1) they are very unlikely to suffer any serious or lasting harm from acquiring Covid-19; and 2) the natural immunity they would gain would far exceed the immunity potentially gained from any of the current vaccines.
That said, the only vaccine the DOD may lawfully mandate is the Pfiser variant recently approved by the FDA, called "Comirnaty." Mandating service members to take a vaccine not FDA-approved is prohibited by law (expect in particularly dire circumstances not here present). (See, 10 U.S.C. § 1107a.) Fine, you might say, but now we have the approved Comirnaty. But that is the interesting thing. At least for now, it appears that Pfiser has little interest in actually making and distributing Comirnaty -- it's just not available anywhere. Perhaps Pfiser is more comfortable selling the "experimental" vaccine under the umbrella of legal immunity? Hard to tell. But you can't take a vaccine that's not available.
Wait, you say, Comirnaty is identical to the existing experimental Pfiser, the one that millions have taken. True, but unless it actually says "Comirnaty" on the label, it legally remains the experimental drug, cannot be mandated by he DOD, and good luck trying to enforce such an order. And, so far at least, Pfiser appears to be slow-walking that labelling. We'll see if it becomes available by the new Naval Reserve deadline of December 28, 2021, now made applicable to our USMMA mids.
The DOD is mandating a vaccine that practically does not exist. But what the DOT may require for our long-suffering mids? All bets are off.
That said, the only vaccine the DOD may lawfully mandate is the Pfiser variant recently approved by the FDA, called "Comirnaty." Mandating service members to take a vaccine not FDA-approved is prohibited by law (expect in particularly dire circumstances not here present). (See, 10 U.S.C. § 1107a.) Fine, you might say, but now we have the approved Comirnaty. But that is the interesting thing. At least for now, it appears that Pfiser has little interest in actually making and distributing Comirnaty -- it's just not available anywhere. Perhaps Pfiser is more comfortable selling the "experimental" vaccine under the umbrella of legal immunity? Hard to tell. But you can't take a vaccine that's not available.
Wait, you say, Comirnaty is identical to the existing experimental Pfiser, the one that millions have taken. True, but unless it actually says "Comirnaty" on the label, it legally remains the experimental drug, cannot be mandated by he DOD, and good luck trying to enforce such an order. And, so far at least, Pfiser appears to be slow-walking that labelling. We'll see if it becomes available by the new Naval Reserve deadline of December 28, 2021, now made applicable to our USMMA mids.
The DOD is mandating a vaccine that practically does not exist. But what the DOT may require for our long-suffering mids? All bets are off.