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Coronavirus & the MHS Response | COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts | Immunizations
The United States military stands ready to contribute its large-scale logistical and medical capabilities to support the government’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
The Department of Defense has a long history with its medical personnel, medics, corpsmen, and other trained technicians providing a wide array of vaccinations to service members, DOD personnel, their employees, and families. This support can be deployed across the country on shorter notice than federal agencies or the private sector.
President Joe Biden has pledged to get 100 million COVID-19 shots into the arms of adult Americans in the first 100 days of his administration. The government is purchasing an additional 200 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be added to the national stockpile for availability by the end of July.
Deals also have been announced by the federal government to send doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to participating drug store and grocery chains across the country.
"It may take until June, July and August to finally get everyone vaccinated,” predicted Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and Biden’s chief medical adviser. “When you hear about how long it's going to take to get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated, I don't think anybody disagrees that that's going to be well to the end of the summer and we get into early fall."
As vaccine supplies continue to be restocked to inoculate some 300 million Americans – or virtually the entire adult population – armed services’ trained personnel are likely to be called in to assist state and local efforts.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently approved a Federal Emergency Management Agency request to augment and expedite COVID-19 vaccinations across the country. “The DOD must help the federal government move further and faster to eradicate the devastating effects of the coronavirus,” he said.
Austin ordered the first contingent of more than 1,000 active duty military personnel to support California state vaccination sites. Additional vaccination missions will follow.
Training for such eventualities goes on all year long. Training courses throughout the military branches have been preparing for the civilian COVID-19 immunization efforts as an added part of their curriculum in instructional and practical courses on immunizations.
Trained military personnel can provide vaccinations to civilians under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. The PREP Act allows the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a declaration to provide legal protections to certain military personnel involved in mass vaccination efforts.