The Pentagon has approved another 20 military teams, a total of 4,700 service members, to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administer COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
After approving five such teams last week, the defense minister Lloyd Austin
Lloyd AustinOvernight Defense: Air Force Joins Army and Navy to Eradicate Extremism Biden Axis Trump Emergency Command for Frontier Wall Leaders Announces New Review of Extremism in Service The eradication of extremism in the military is a big task – but an essential task MORE authorized an extra 20 to support FEMA on vaccination mega-sites and smaller sites, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
The 20 will be divided into ten teams of 222 staff members supporting mega-vaccination centers and 10 teams of 139 staff members assisting in smaller groups.
All teams, consisting largely of active service forces, will be dispatched “as the requirements develop.”
The Pentagon announced last week that it had allowed an initial 1,100 service members to assist FEMA on five vaccination sites, in response to the agency’s request to the Department of Defense in late January to assist with the Biden government’s 100 million people vaccinated. the first 100 days goal.
Of the first five teams approved, only one was announced and deployed, a team from Fort Carson, Colonel, who arrived in Los Angeles to support a mega-vaccination center. Kirby said the team expects to be up and running by Monday.
He added that the Pentagon will soon have more information on where the other four teams will be sent, but that it is a complicated process that needs to be coordinated with local and state authorities.
“We do not want to move too fast so that we overwhelm the process or the system,” Kirby said.
The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is a part, have been discussing over the past few weeks how the military can help the agency with President Biden
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Possible solutions used include sending up to 100 teams of active conscripts and national army – a total of 10,000 troops – to vaccination sites