Buttigieg on Vaccine Mandate for Active-Duty Military: ‘Part of the Job and for Your Own Good’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday weighed in on the Pentagon announcing that all active-duty military members are required to have received a coronavirus vaccine by September 15.

Buttigieg told CNN’s “New Day” that when he was in the military, he “got vaccinated all the time.” He added that getting vaccinated is “part of the job and for your own good.”

“When I was in the military, I got vaccinated all the time,” Buttigieg recalled. “We would have a medical day; you would go through all your stops, you would get your vision checked, you would get your shots. I mean, it was the most routine thing imaginable and, of course, it’s about keeping our troops safe, but also by keeping our troops safe. We’re helping to keep our country safe. Remember, anytime an unvaccinated person is infected with this variant, that’s one more person, one more place, one more body where this virus cannot only cause direct harm, not only go on to infect somebody else but can also mutate and turn into another variant. That’s why so many people’s lives depend on every individual making that choice or responding to that requirement to get vaccinated.”

“I think most people in the military are very used to this. I can’t even remember the list of all the things I got vaccinated for, certainly before I deployed. And it’s part of the job and for your own good,” he concluded.

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