The Federal Emergency Management Agency is deploying or supporting vaccination sites in at least 11 states after President Joe Biden ordered the government to get war on its mission to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer.
According to the FEMA official, the states are Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington. The official also set up a website in the US Virgin Islands.
Four of the states, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Washington, were home to nine vaccination stations supported since Wednesday, the agency said in a statement. FEMA personnel are being deployed to several other states, the agency said.
“Additional personnel across the country are virtually supporting, while the U.S. National Bureau of Personnel provides personnel, administrative, and logistical support to vaccines in 22 states,” he said.
The agency, which has budgeted $ 1.2 billion for its Covid-19 mission, said it would reimburse countries that deploy their National Guard troops to help with vaccination sites.
Federal aid will also go to the pop-up and mobile vaccination clinics of states, FEMA said.
Johnson & Johnson said Friday its own Covid-19 vaccine, which is a third vaccine for the U.S. arsenal against the virus, could be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration as early as next week for authorization for emergency use.
Last week, Biden ordered FEMA to start setting up vaccination sites.
The president on Monday set a target of 150 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. He acknowledged that in order to do so, he would have to make a massive federal effort on the ground.
“It’s going to be a logistical challenge that surpasses anything we’ve ever tried in this country, but I think we can do it,” he said.
