WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s administration announced Friday that the Pentagon had approved the deployment of 1,100 active-duty troops to help with COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the United States, a number that is likely to increase in the coming weeks. months.
The pandemic has killed more than 447,000 Americans and left millions unemployed.
Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 response team, said in a briefing that part of the group would begin arriving in California in the next 10 days.
The Pentagon said the 1,110 troops would be divided into five teams, each with vaccinators, nurses and clinical staff.
The deployment is probably only the first stretch of U.S. military personnel to help administer vaccines nationwide.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with the Pentagon to deploy 10,000 troops and open 100 centers nationwide to increase vaccine availability .
The use of the army to fight coronavirus is not new. At its peak under former President Donald Trump, more than 47,000 National Guard personnel supported COVID-19 operations and some 20,000 continue to help.
The Army Corps of Engineers has also built thousands of rooms across the country to help hospitals with the stress caused by the spread of the coronavirus.
By Idrees Ali