WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon will deploy more than 1,100 troops to five vaccination centers in what will be the first wave of increased military support for the White House campaign to inoculate more Americans against COVID-19.
President Joe Biden has called for the establishment of 100 mass vaccination centers across the country within a month. One of the five new military teams will go to a vaccination center that opens in California. Other centers are expected to be announced soon.
The federal emergency management agency has asked the Pentagon to provide up to 10,000 service members for 100 centers. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the first five teams, but the others will be approved in separate tranches as FEMA identifies the other locations on the site.
FEMA Interim Administrator Robert Fenton told reporters that two vaccination sites that will be administered “predominantly” at the federal level will open in California on February 16, one at California State University, Los Angeles, and the other in Oakland. .
Military troops will engage one of the two centers in California, FEMA and Pentagon officials said. Staff from other parts of the federal government will be at the other. More sites will open across the country as more doses of the vaccine become available.
The military deployment comes as the nation is in a race against a virus that causes mutations that can make it spread more easily and cause more deadly diseases.
Only about 2% of Americans have received the required two-dose vaccination schedule, which provides optimal protection with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines currently available. To achieve widespread immunity or “herd”, the United States must vaccinate between 70% and 85% of its population, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top expert on infectious diseases.
This would mean about 230 million to 280 million people, compared to 6.9 million who are currently completely immunized with two blows.
More help could come soon. Johnson & Johnson announced this week requests emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for his vaccine, which requires a single shot.
Each of the Pentagon’s five military teams includes 222 personnel, including 80 who will administer the vaccines, as well as nurses and other support personnel. Teams could deliver about 6,000 hits a day.
The five teams represent an increasing use of active military services for a vaccination campaign that already involves nearly 100 National Guard teams from 29 states across the country. National Guard leaders told the Associated Press that they are now considering training additional members of the Guard to fire so that they can expand vaccinations to more remote and rural parts of their states.
General Dan Hokanson, head of the National Guard Bureau, said the Guard has the capacity to replace about 200 additional teams. Training other medical staff to make the vaccines, he said, could provide more.
“If we get to the point where we’ve fully deployed all of our people who can (fire), then they’re looking at potential training opportunities if we’re going to need more than that,” Hokanson said. “We will do our best to make a difference and meet any need.”
The Pentagon said the FEMA teams could be a mix of active duty, National Guard and Reserves. But Hokanson and General Jerry Fenwick, director of the joint surgery office of the guard, said that at this time, FEMA teams will be more likely to be largely occupied by active duty troops. They said the Guard would likely be exploited by their governors for use in their own states. are more likely to be used in remote, rural locations.
Guard leaders said nearly 100 mobile vaccination teams already active make more than 50,000 shots a day.
“As more vaccines appear, there will certainly be more demand for vaccinators,” Fenwick said.
Pentagon officials have made it clear that they are paying close attention to the operation of the National Guard and Reserves, as in many cases these members of the service are already working in medical jobs in their civilian lives at local hospitals and medical centers. Hokanson noted that while the Garda could employ up to 600 vaccine teams, it needs to cut that number by about half because of these types of civilian job restrictions.
He said that so far the members of the Guard operate only in their own states, but could go to neighboring states, if necessary in the future, as long as they have enough teams.
Biden compared the campaign against COVID-19 to a war. Along with the deployment of troops, he also invoked a Cold War-era law, called the Defense Production Act, to help strengthen the manufacture of vaccines, COVID-19 home test kits and nitrile gloves used by health care workers. and vaccinators. Called the DPA, the law essentially allows the government to assign missions to private companies during national emergencies.
Tim Manning, the White House’s COVID-19 supply coordinator, said Friday that the administration is trying to help Dr. Pfizer remove a blockage in filling and finishing capabilities with vaccine production, giving the doctor first priority access. to the necessary consumables.
Manning also said the government is investing in six manufacturers to develop COVID-19 tests at home and at the point of care, with the aim of producing 60 million tests by the end of the summer. Earlier this week, the White House announced a $ 230 million contract with Ellume, the manufacturer of a home test approved by the Food and Drug Administration. No prescription is required for the over-the-counter test.
“The country is far behind where we need to be in testing,” Manning said. Due to contractual issues, he said he could not yet reveal the names of the companies.
Another round of contracts will increase the capacity to produce surgical gloves in the US, including the processing of glove raw materials. There were widespread deficiencies at the beginning of the pandemic last year.
Manning said the goal is to produce more than 1 billion nitrile gloves domestically by the end of this year.