Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has authorized a total of 25 teams so far to provide active troops for support with COVID-19 vaccination efforts. The move comes in response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday that Austin had approved 20 additional teams, bringing the total number active service staff supported or prepared to support FEMA in the vaccination effort to more than 4 700.
The first five teams were announced last week, and the first part of 222 people are on site at what FEMA calls a ‘mega-site’ at California State University in Los Angeles to begin next week.
Ten of the new teams will have 222 staff members to support mega sites, while the other ten will deploy 139 people to support smaller sites.
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Kirby did not have additional details on which vaccination sites the troops will support or where the troops will come from.
“What we’re trying to do is be ready when we need it,” Kirby said. He added that with the announcement, the department can start making sure that the staff are properly trained, and that their assignments have time to proceed on their departure.
FEMA has requested support for 100 vaccination sites, with deployments likely to exceed the estimated 10,000 active troops initially requested by the federal agency.
Meanwhile, FEMA is seeking an offer to contract trained inmates to help roll out COVID-19. The agency plans to contract thousands of medical staff by mid-March, according to a statement issued Friday. Contracted staff will provide vaccine support to a range of medical facilities, including community-based hospitals, state-run centers and federal vaccination sites. A FEMA official confirmed to CBS News that a draft statement indicates that federal contracts will amount to about $ 3 billion.
FEMA has provided more than $ 3.22 billion to states, tribes, territories and Washington, DC for COVID-19 vaccine-related expenses. The government agency has deployed nearly 2,000 staff members across the country to support existing vaccination centers.
According to FEMA, the National Guard Bureau sent 1,201 vaccines to 385 vaccination centers in 43 states and territories, with 351 vaccines instituted between agencies to Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas.
But cities and states are pleading with the federal government to send more vaccine supplies. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that five of the city’s COVID-19 vaccines – including Dodger Stadium – will close on Friday and Saturday due to a lack of supplies.
“We vaccinate people faster than new bottles arrive here in Los Angeles,” he told a news conference Wednesday night. “And I’m very worried now. As your mayor, I’m worried that our vaccine supply is unequal, that it’s unpredictable and too often unfair.”
Demand for vaccines is on track to exceed supply “in the foreseeable future,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday.
Hogan told a news conference on Thursday that Maryland was not receiving enough supplies to vaccinate the more than 2 million Marylanders – including senior citizens – who were eligible for doses.
“They can not plan an appointment for a vaccine that does not yet exist,” Hogan said. “The basic problem is pretty simple: we need more damn vaccines.”
In Alabama, which is currently the last in the U.S. in vaccinations per capita, all vaccination sites are now booked until April.
President Biden addressed the much-needed boost for the vaccine supply during Thursday by the National Institutes of Health Laboratories.
“It really seems to be a huge logistical problem for us,” he said. Biden said and addressed the Trump administration. “My predecessor – I will be very blunt about it – did not do his job to prepare for the great challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions.”