Story at a glance
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved a Federal Emergency Management Agency request to “augment and expedite” the nation’s vaccination rollout.
- The move will send 1,110 active-duty service members to support five FEMA COVID-19 vaccination centers.
- As part of the effort to accelerate vaccinations in the U.S., the Biden administration is working to set up 100 federal mass vaccination sites.
More than 1,000 active-duty military personnel will be deployed to support mass COVID-19 vaccination sites across the U.S. as part of President Biden’s goal to vaccinate 100 million people within his first 100 days in office, the White House coronavirus response team announced on Friday.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) request to “augment and expedite” the nation’s vaccination rollout, senior coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt announced during a news briefing Friday. FEMA has requested 10,000 personnel to aid 100 vaccination sites, but it’s unclear when that will occur.
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The move will send 1,110 active-duty service members to support five FEMA COVID-19 vaccination centers, according to the Department of Defense (DOD). Teams of 222 troops will support each one of the sites and will include medical and support personnel.
The first contingent of troops will begin arriving in California within the next 10 days to begin operations around Feb. 15 with additional vaccination missions soon to follow, Slavitt said.
“The military’s critical role in supporting sites will help vaccinate thousands of people per day and ensure that every American who wants a vaccine will receive one,” Slavitt said.
As part of the effort to accelerate vaccinations in the U.S., the Biden administration is working to set up 100 federal mass vaccination sites with the goal of administering 450,000 vaccinations a day nationwide.
On Wednesday, it was announced the first sites would be located at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and the campus of California State University, Los Angeles. White House officials on Wednesday noted the sites are in two diverse communities that have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. The sites will also be paired with two mobile vaccination clinics that can be deployed to different locations.
The sites are slated to open to eligible members of the public on Feb. 16.
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