The Biden government is expected to announce Friday that it is sending about 1,000 U.S. troops to help across the country with the Covid-19 vaccines. The announcement is expected from the White House later this morning, according to two defense officials.
The plan calls for troops to form into five teams to travel to designated locations. Orders are expected to call on troops to be deployed within 96 hours of receiving their orders.
This effort is the first part of FEMA’s request to the DOD to provide military assistance for vaccinations to meet President Biden’s goal of increasing the number of Americans receiving doses during his first 100 days in office.
The Department of Defense and FEMA have discussed sending up to 10,000 soldiers. Each team will have staff who can administer vaccines and also support troops. The goal is for the military to eventually increase to administer approximately 450,000 vaccines a day.
The United States Northern Command in Colorado Springs is now expected to determine exactly which troops will go and a possible mix of active duty and National Guard.
There is already a significant, but separate, military effort.
“There are more than 20,000 national guards deployed to provide COVID support, including at more than 216 vaccination sites in 36 states and territories,” said Max Rose, senior adviser to Covid’s secretary of defense.
The Pentagon also kept hundreds of employees on alert to be prepared to deploy mainly to help overburdened health facilities and hospitals across the country.