Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits the troops of the National Guard deployed on January 29, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol and its perimeter on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Manuel Balce Ceneta | Getty Images
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved the deployment of more than 1,000 active troops to deliver Covid-19 vaccines across the U.S., a member of President Joe Biden’s response team for coronavirus announced Friday.
Some of the troops will arrive in California within the next ten days and begin operations by February 15, with additional states to follow, Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to Biden’s Covid-19 response team, told reporters .
“The critical role of the military in supporting websites will help vaccinate thousands of people a day and ensure that every American who wants a vaccine will receive it,” he said during the White House press briefing.
Biden is trying to pick up the rate of vaccinations in the US after a slower-than-expected implementation under former President Donald Trump’s administration. The U.S. distributed about 57.4 million vaccine doses, but only about 35.2 million were administered as of 6:00 a.m. ET, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
The Pentagon is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to speed up the delivery of the shots and is also considering a request to send up to 10,000 troops to support vaccination efforts across the country. FEMA and the Department of Defense will jointly determine when members of active duty are no longer needed.
According to the Department of Defense, the 1,110 service members will assemble five teams and involve units of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. The troops will, according to the agency, include nurses and medical staff who will administer Pfizer and Moderna’s dual-dose vaccines.
Slavitt also said the U.S. is using the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer achieve its manufacturing goals for its vaccine. The company said Tuesday it plans to deliver 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. by May, earlier than the initial July forecast.
“I think the use of the Defense Production Act is one of the things that enables Pfizer to meet the targets,” he said. “They have announced an acceleration of their targets when they will be able to deliver vaccines. And I think our partnership with them is one of the reasons. I’m not going to say that’s the whole reason, but it is definitely a critical factor. “
Federal officials also urge states to fire shots faster. On Monday, Slavitt said some health care providers regularly withhold vaccines for second shots, causing the appointment of vaccines to be canceled and that some Americans were unable to receive their first doses.
“We want to make it clear that we understand why healthcare providers did this, but that it does not have to happen and should not happen,” he told reporters Monday, adding that U.S. officials know that Covid vaccines after states were often unpredictable. during the early deployment at the end of December.
“We fully understand that this was a direct result of the lack of predictability that many states and providers had about how many doses they would receive,” he said. “This is one of the reasons why we announced last week that the federal government will provide a continuous window of three weeks into the vaccines being shipped.”
U.S. officials also hope the vaccine supply will increase after Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, which could happen as early as this month. The FDA arranged a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products on February 26 to discuss the vaccine, and the U.S. may approve the vaccine the next day.
Slavitt said the US would use every available option to accelerate the production of J & J’s vaccine.
“As is the case with other vaccines, we have not found that the level of manufacture enables us to have as many vaccines as we think we should get to the gate,” he said.