US leaders urge military to get Coronavirus vaccine shots

Washington DC: With more than half of America reluctant or flatly opposed to getting a COVID-19 vaccine, a VIP-filled video call has targeted the nation's military families with an urgent plea: Get the shot.

We need your help, first lady Jill Biden on Thursday told hundreds of listeners on a call set up by Blue Star Families. That's why we're encouraging everyone to mask up, socially distance and get the vaccine when it's your turn.

The call featured detailed medical explanations from Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, who answered questions from the audience, as well as urgings from Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his wife, Hollyanne, who is a nurse.

Their pleas underscored the widespread concern about the reluctance among service members and their families to get the vaccine.

According to senior defense leaders, the percentage of service members declining to get the shot is about the same as the general population around half. A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that about 51 per cent of US adults say that they won't get the vaccine or that they want to wait and see. KFF said that the numbers of those willing to get the vaccine have grown since December.

The trends in the military "are very similar to what we're seeing in the US population as a whole that the older population has been more willing to take the vaccine. The younger population has been a bit more hesitant about it," Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff Surgeon, told reporters in a recent press conference.