Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has so far authorized a total of 25 teams of active soldiers to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts. The move comes in response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that Austin has authorized 20 additional teams, bringing the total number of supporting active staff or preparing to support FEMA in the vaccination effort over 4,700.
The first five teams were announced last week, and the first tranche of 222 employees is on the ground at what FEMA calls a “mega-site” at California State University in Los Angeles to begin operations next week.
Ten of the new teams will have 222 staff to support mega-sites, while the other 10 will deploy 139 staff to support smaller sites.
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Kirby had no further details on which vaccination sites will travel in support of the troops or where the troops will come from.
“What we’re trying to do is be prepared when we need to,” Kirby said. He added that with the announcement, the Department can begin to ensure that staff are properly trained, resourced and that their orders have time to prepare for departure.
FEMA has requested support for 100 vaccination sites, with deployments likely to exceed the 10,000 active soldiers originally requested by the federal agency.
Meanwhile, FEMA is looking for offers to hire trained vaccinators to help launch the COVID-19 vaccine. The agency plans to hire thousands of medical staff by mid-March, according to a statement issued on Friday. Contracted staff will provide support for vaccination at a number of medical facilities, including community-based hospitals, state-run centers and federally administered vaccination sites. A FEMA official confirmed to CBS News that a draft statement indicated that the federal contracts would have a total value of about $ 3 billion.
FEMA provided states, tribes, territories and Washington, DC with more than $ 3.22 billion in COVID-19 vaccination costs. The government agency has already deployed nearly 2,000 staff members across the country to support existing vaccination centers.
According to FEMA, the National Guard Bureau sent 1,201 vaccinators to 385 vaccination centers in 43 states and territories, and 351 inter-agency vaccines were deployed in Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas.
But cities and states are advocating with the federal government to send more vaccine offers. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that five of the city’s COVID-19 vaccination sites – including Dodger Stadium – will close on Friday and Saturday due to lack of supplies.
“We vaccinate people faster than new bottles arrive here in Los Angeles,” he told a news conference Wednesday night. “And now I’m very worried. As mayor, I’m worried that our vaccine supply is uneven, unpredictable and, all too often, unfair.”
Vaccine demand is about to exceed supply “for the foreseeable future,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday.
During a news conference Thursday, Hogan said Maryland is not getting enough to vaccinate the more than 2 million Marylanders – including the elderly – who are eligible for doses.
“I can’t schedule an appointment for a vaccine that doesn’t exist yet,” Hogan said. “The basic problem is simple: we need more vaccines miserable.”
In Alabama, which currently ranks last in the US in terms of per capita vaccinations, all vaccination sites are now reserved until April.
President Biden addressed the much-needed boost in vaccine supply, while visiting the laboratories of the National Institutes of Health on Thursday.
“It turned out to be a huge logistical problem for us,” Mr. Biden said, following the Trump administration. “My predecessor – I’ll be very clear – didn’t do his job preparing for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions.”