By The Associated Press PHILIPPINE SEA â The U.S. 7th Fleet that operates throughout the Indo-Pacific says 96% of its personnel have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The fleet said in a news release that more than 14,000 of its service members had received their full doses of the vaccine, which it began administering on January 5. âWe are in a pandemic and our principle weapon for ending this and saving lives is the vaccine,â vaccine coordinator Capt. Joseph F. Penta was quoted as saying. âWe owe it to ourselves, our family and country to make every effort to stop the pandemic.â Receiving the vaccination was voluntary and medical personnel were on hand to answer any questions about the process, the release said.