The Pentagon has approved 20 additional military teams, 4,700 in total, to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administer COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
After the approval of five such teams last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Lloyd AustinOvernight Defense: Air Force Joins Army and Navy in Eradicating Extremism | Biden Scraps Trump Border Wall Emergency Order Air Force Leaders Announce New Overhaul of Extremism in Service Eliminating extremism in the military is a tough task, but a necessary MORE authorized an additional 20 to support FEMA on vaccination mega sites and smaller sites, Pentagon’s top spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
The 20 will be divided into 10 teams of 222 staff supporting mega vaccination sites and 10 teams of 139 staff assisting smaller ones.
All teams, consisting largely of active duty forces, will be deployed “as requirements evolve.”
The Pentagon announced last week that it had initially authorized 1,100 active duty members to assist FEMA on five state vaccination sites, in response to the agency’s request to the Department of Defense in late January to assist the Biden administration’s 100 million people. the goal of the first 100 days.
Of the first five teams approved, only one has been announced and deployed, a team from Fort Carson, Col., which has arrived in Los Angeles to support a mega-vaccination center. Kirby said the team expects to be operational 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 requires coordination with local and state authorities.
“We don’t want to go too fast so we overwhelm the process or the system,” Kirby said.
The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is a part, have discussed in recent weeks how the military can help the agency with President Biden
Joe Biden Washington Post Economic Reporter: Federal Reserve Refutes Arguments Biden’s COVID-19 Plan Is Too Big in Support of Marijuana Legalization: “ This Could Be a Priority for Congress ” Blinken, UN Leadership First Call After US Rejoin to climate agreements, WHO MOREthe ambitious goal of vaccinating 1.5 million people a day in the coming weeks.
Possible solutions include sending up to 100 teams of Active and National Guard troops – 10,000 troops in total – to vaccination sites