Top US military leaders volunteer to become guinea pigs for COVID-19 vaccine

• Top commanders in the US military will be publicly getting their COVID-19 vaccinations to encourage other service members to do the same.
• Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman noted that senior leaders across the different branches and combatant commands will be volunteering to take the vaccine publicly.

Top commanders in the US military will be publicly getting their COVID-19 vaccinations to send a "message" and encourage other service members to do the same, Defense Department officials announced Wednesday.

Thomas McCaffery, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said that a "very small set of very visible senior leaders" will be volunteering for the vaccines during the initial phase of the rollout, to "encourage ... all those eligible personnel to take the vaccine."

The top leaders include acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman Gen. John Hyten, and Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman Ramón Colón-López.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman noted that other senior leaders across the different branches and combatant commands will be volunteering to take the vaccine publicly to lead by example.

"Many have volunteered already," Hoffman said.

The officials noted that vaccinations will at first be voluntary for US troops and that there would be no repercussions for those who choose not to receive it.

The plans come as the US death toll for the coronavirus reached over 280,000 people by Wednesday. At least eight US service members have died of the disease.

The announcement comes as numerous polls indicate a wariness among US adults in receiving the vaccine. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey estimated that 27% of American adults are unsure whether they want the vaccine, and another 26% said they would not.