Regional airline discouraged pilots from getting COVID vaccine because of increased passenger demand
CBSN
American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont Airlines discouraged pilots from getting COVID vaccines last weekend "due to high demand" for flying, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.
In the memo sent last Wednesday, Piedmont Airlines Chief Pilot John Pursell told the regional carrier's 500 pilots, "Piedmont will be unable to release any additional pilots for COVID vaccination for the weekend of March 19-21 due to high demand." Demand for travel has been on the rise throughout March, hitting a pandemic high of more than 1.5 million passengers screens at TSA checkpoints on Sunday.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.