Pentagon Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine After Regulators Approve Pfizer’s Shot

A U.S. Marine receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Camp Foster in Kin, Japan, on April 28, 2021. Carl Court/Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Aug. 23 has set off a new round of vaccine mandates.

The decision triggered the U.S. military to make the shot mandatory, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington.