The Pentagon is deploying more than 1,100 troops to fuel the COVID-19 vaccination

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon will deploy more than 1,100 troops to five vaccination centers in what will be the first wave of increased military support for the White House’s campaign to vaccinate more Americans against COVID-19.

President Joe Biden has called for 100 mass vaccination centers across the country to be set up within a month. One of the five new military teams will go to a vaccination center opening in California. Other centers are expected to be announced shortly.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the Pentagon to provide as many as 10,000 service workers to 100 centers. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved the first five teams, but the others will be approved in separate installments as FEMA identifies the other locations.

Acting FEMA Administrator Robert Fenton told reporters that two vaccination sites that will be “predominantly” federally operated will open in California on Feb. 16, one at California State University, Los Angeles and the other in Oakland.

Military forces will man one of the two centers in California, FEMA and Pentagon officials said. Staff from other parts of the federal government will sit with the other. More sites will be opened across the country as more vaccine doses become available.

The military stakes are because the country is racing against a virus that produces mutations that allow it to spread more easily and cause more deadly diseases.

Only about 2 percent of Americans have received the required two-dose vaccination regimen that provides optimal protection with the currently available Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. To achieve widespread or “herd” immunity, the US must vaccinate 70 to 85 percent of the population, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.

That would be about 230 million to 280 million people, compared to 6.9 million who are currently fully immunized with two injections.

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More help may come soon. Johnson & Johnson announced this week that it is seeking emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its vaccine, requiring only one injection.

Each of the Pentagon’s five military teams consists of 222 personnel, including 80 who will administer the vaccines, as well as nurses and other support personnel. The teams could make about 6,000 shots a day.

The five teams represent a growing use of the military on active duty for a vaccination campaign that already involves nearly 100 National Guard teams in 29 states across the country. National Guard leaders told The Associated Press that they are now considering training additional Guard members to give shots so they can expand vaccinations in more remote and rural parts of their states as well.

General Dan Hokanson, head of the National Guard Bureau, said the Guard has the ability to deploy about 200 additional teams. Training other medical personnel to give the vaccination shots could potentially be more beneficial, he said.

“When we get to the point where we’ve fully implemented all of our people who can (give shots), then they’ll look at possible training options when we need more,” Hokanson said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make a difference and meet whatever that need is.”

The Pentagon has said the FEMA teams could be a mix of active duty, National Guard and Reserves. But Hokanson and Major General Jerry Fenwick, director of the Guard’s Office of the Joint Surgeon, said the FEMA teams will likely be largely filled by active duty troops at this point. The Guard, they said, will likely be bugged by their governors for use in their own states. are more likely to be used in remote, rural locations.

Security guards said the nearly 100 mobile vaccination teams already operating deliver more than 50,000 injections per day.

“As more vaccines come online, there will certainly be more demand for vaccinators,” Fenwick said.

Pentagon officials have made it clear that they are cautious about wiretapping National Guards and Reserves, as those service workers in many cases already have medical jobs in civilian life in local hospitals and medical centers. Hokanson noted that while the Guard could man as many as 600 vaccine teams, he has to cut that number roughly in half because of those kinds of civilian job restrictions.

He said Guard members only operate in their own state so far, but can move to neighboring states in the future if needed, as long as they have enough teams.

Biden has compared the campaign against COVID-19 to a war. In addition to deploying troops, he also relied on a Cold War law called the Defense Production Act to support the production of vaccines, COVID-19 home-use test kits, and nitrile gloves used by health workers and vaccinators. The law, called the DPA, essentially allows the government to assign missions to private companies during national emergencies.

Tim Manning, the White House’s COVID-19 delivery coordinator, said on Friday that the government wanted to help drug maker Pfizer overcome a bottleneck in filling and finishing capabilities in vaccine manufacturing by making the drugmaker the number one priority in vaccine manufacturing. obtain the necessary supplies.

Manning also said the government is investing in six manufacturers to develop COVID-19 home and point of care tests, with the goal of producing 60 million tests by the end of the summer. Earlier this week, the White House announced a $ 230 million contract with Ellume, a home test manufacturer approved by the Food and Drug Administration. No prescription is required for the over-the-counter test.

“The country is far behind where we have to test,” said Manning. Due to contract issues, he said he could not reveal the names of the companies yet.

A new series of contracts will build capacity to produce surgical gloves in the US, including processing the raw materials for the gloves. At the start of the pandemic last year, there were major shortages.

Manning said the goal is to produce more than 1 billion nitrile gloves domestically by the end of this year.