The House of Representatives passed an $858 billion National Defense Authorization bill on Thursday and it now heads to the Senate where it is also expected to pass. This legislation funds a pay hike and aid for Taiwan and Ukraine, circumventing the battles that presumptive House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promises are on the way for all funding measures in the new Congress. But the Republicans did win one skirmish: they managed to include a rollback of the COVID vaccine mandate for military personnel on the dubious grounds that it is limiting recruitment because so many would-be heroes refuse to get the jab. (The Pentagon rejects that assertion.) Democratic congressional leaders obviously felt it was the better part of valor to pass the Ukraine funding before Marjorie Taylor Greene's shock troops get veto power, so they let this one go.

This is purely political, of course. The Pentagon requires all personnel to take vaccines for any number of illnesses and military leaders obviously think this is ridiculous. But we have civilian control of the military for good reasons even if, from time to time, partisan politics wins the day. As it happens, very few service members have refused to take the vaccine and the military will surely be able to maintain readiness without the mandate. 

After all we've been through in the last three years, the anti-vaxxers are still claiming victims. There are outbreaks of measles and other dangerous diseases all over the country due to this new resistance to the science that has saved countless lives over many decades. There remain pockets of liberal intransigence on the subject, but resistance is concentrated mainly on the right among people who have been influenced by conspiracy theories and right-wing politicians and media. It's tremendously ironic, since the political leader who can take credit for pushing a swift rollout of the COVID vaccines is none other than their Dear Leader Donald Trump. It's the one positive achievement of his presidency, and it's the one his followers boo him for.  ...