The federal government will send hundreds of active duty soldiers to California in the coming weeks to help strengthen vaccine administration in the state.
Andy Slavitt, the senior White House advisor on coronavirus response, said on Friday that the Department of Defense approved the first contingent’s request in what could be a deployment of thousands of military personnel to form new mass vaccination sites. coronavirus across the country.
“The military’s critical role in supporting the sites will help vaccinate thousands of people each day and ensure that all Americans who want a vaccine receive it,” said Slavitt during a news conference.
The Biden government announced this week that it plans to establish 100 mass vaccination sites across the country in the coming months, with the first two scheduled to open in mid-February at the Oakland Coliseum and California State University Los Angeles.
State officials expect the Colosseum site to provide up to 6,000 doses a day, with a focus on expanding access to the vaccine for underserved communities.
At least one of these California locations, which will be overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is expected to receive a team of 222 soldiers from across the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in the next 10 days, according to the Department Defense. The team will include 80 vaccinators, 57 clinical staff and 15 registered nurses, among others.
FEMA’s total order is 10,000 soldiers to support the planned 100 mass vaccination sites. The Department of Defense approved on Thursday the first group of 1,100 people to assist the team from five locations, including the team that has already been announced in California.
Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said at a news conference on Friday that he did not know whether Oakland or the Los Angeles vaccination site would receive military assistance, or where the other four teams would go.
FEMA did not respond to questions seeking clarification.
“We will partner with DOD to obtain additional resources in federally supported locations across the country,” said a spokesman by email.
The effort is part of a broader strategy by the Biden government to rely on its military powers to increase the country’s response to the coronavirus.
Tim Manning, the national supply chain coordinator for response to the coronavirus, said on Friday that the federal government was also invoking the Defense Production Act to increase vaccine manufacturing, homemade coronavirus testing and protective gloves.
Limited supply of doses has been one of the greatest restrictions on the implementation of vaccination in California and across the country. Manning said the Biden administration would give Pfizer a priority rating for protecting critical equipment, including filling pumps, by removing a bottleneck in vaccine manufacturing.
“It is actions like these that will allow Pfizer to increase production and achieve its goals of delivering hundreds of millions of doses in the coming months,” said Manning.
Alexei Koseff is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @akoseff
Clarification: An earlier version of this article stated that the federal government would send troops to the team’s mass vaccination sites in Oakland and Los Angeles. It is unclear which California site will receive assistance.