Could getting the COVID vaccine ease your pre-deployment quarantine? February 3 Master-at-Arms 1st Class Patrick Moore receives the COVID-19 vaccine as U.S. Pacific Fleet Master Chief James Honea observes at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on Dec. 29. (Chief Mass Communication Specialist Jay C. Pugh/Navy) An internal email sent out to members of a U.S. warship last month suggests that sailors who elect to receive COVID-19 vaccinations could receive less-strict pre-deployment quarantine in the future. While Navy officials emphasize that any such policy change remains under consideration, an email sent out to the weapons department of the guided-missile destroyer Chafee last month and obtained by Navy Times lays out how vaccinated sailors could affect quarantine time before a unit deploys.
Biden should focus Defense Production Act on fixing the COVID supply chain January 21
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Shane Miller prepares COVID-19 vaccines at the Naval Base San Diego fitness center on Jan. 8, 2020, as part of Operation Warp Speed. (MC1 Julio Rivera/Navy) While President Joe Biden’s newly released plan to speed up vaccine distribution is admirable, its success is highly dependent on the Trump administration’s legacy on vaccine production and its critical supply chain, from specialized ingredients to critical auxiliary items such as glass vials. Thursday’s revelation by the new administration that the Trump administration had no vaccine distribution plan, following the recent news that there is no additional COVID-19 vaccine in reserve for second doses, hammers this home. In the absence of a federal stockpile, accelerated vaccine distribution requires scaled up and sustained vaccine production that meets both U.S. and foreign needs. It also remains unclea