Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard troops deployed on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on January 29, 2021, near the Capitol and its perimeter.
Manuel Balce Ceneta | Getty Images
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has approved the deployment of more than 1,000 active troops to help deliver Covid-19 vaccines in the US, a member of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team announced Friday.
Some troops will arrive in California within the next 10 days and begin operations on Feb. 15, with additional states to follow, Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser on Biden’s Covid-19 response team, told reporters.
“The military’s critical role in supporting sites will help vaccinate thousands of people a day and ensure that every American who wants a vaccine gets it,” he said at the White House press conference.
Biden is trying to speed up the pace of vaccinations in the US after a slower-than-expected rollout under former President Donald Trump’s administration. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US has distributed about 57.4 million vaccine doses, but only 35.2 million have been administered as of Thursday at 6 a.m. ET.
The Pentagon is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to speed up delivery of the shots and is also weighing up a request to send up to 10,000 troops to support vaccination efforts across the country. FEMA and Defense jointly determine when active members are no longer needed.
The 1,110 active servicemen will assemble five teams and engage units from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, according to the Department of Defense. The troops will include nurses and medical personnel who will help administer the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, according to the agency.
Slavitt also said the US is using the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer meet its production targets for its vaccine. The company said Tuesday that it plans to deliver 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the US by May, ahead of its initial July forecast.
“I think using the Defense Production Act is one of the things that will allow Pfizer to meet the targets,” he said. “They announced an acceleration of their targets for when they can deliver vaccines. And I think our partnership with them is one of those reasons. I’m not going to say it’s the whole reason, but it’s certainly a critical factor. “
Federal officials are also urging states to speed up shooting. On Monday, Slavitt said some health care providers regularly withheld vaccines for second injections, canceling vaccine appointments and preventing some Americans from receiving their first doses.
“We want to be clear that we understand why health care providers have done that, but it doesn’t have to and shouldn’t happen,” he told reporters Monday, adding that US officials know that shipments of Covid vaccines to states are often unpredictable. goods. during the early rollout at the end of December.
“We fully understand that this is a direct result of the lack of predictability that many states and providers have had regarding the number of doses they would receive,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we announced last week that the federal government will provide a three-week rolling window for the vaccines to be shipped.”
US officials are also hoping that vaccine supply will increase after Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine is approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, which could happen as early as this month. The FDA has scheduled a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Feb. 26 to discuss the vaccine, and the US could approve the vaccine the following day.
Slavitt said the US will use every option available to speed up J & J’s vaccine production.
“As is the case with other vaccines, we haven’t found that the production level allows us to get as much vaccine as we think we need to get out of the gate,” he said.