August 9, 2021

The U.S. military will start requiring service members to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by the middle of September, anticipating full regulatory approval of a vaccine by then. In a memo to service members, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would seek President Joe Biden’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September or as soon as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives final approval to the Pfizer vaccine, “whichever comes first.”   The memo urges troops to prepare for the requirement, and Austin added that if coronavirus infection rates rise, “I will not hesitate to act sooner

    A student organization is trying to combat misinformation about COVID-19 and pandemic on American campuses through social media. COVID Campus Coalition’s mission is to dispel “misconceptions surrounding COVID vaccines by providing students with weekly digestible scientific summaries through a plethora of virtual and in-person platforms,” according to its website. “Look at the comments of an Instagram post about the vaccine and you have people spouting myths and conspiracies about the virus,” said sophomore James Lifton of Edinburgh, Scotland, a political science major, who has teamed up with COVID Campus Coalition on his campus, Texas A&M (TAMU). Social media has