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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking the Pentagon to help President Joe Biden speed up COVID-19 vaccinations across the country over the next three months, according to several reports on Thursday.
The Department of Defense is reviewing it, CNN reported.
“The ministry is evaluating the request and the types of support it can provide. Given the importance of the request, it will be reviewed urgently but carefully to determine which DOD assets can be made available in full. security to support the effort, ”Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
“As a secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin said the DOD is committed to doing whatever it can to help the whole government fight COVID-19, ”he added.
Although the statement does not provide the number of soldiers who could be involved, an anonymous official told Reuters it could number in the thousands.
Possible solutions, according to The Hill, could include sending up to 10,000 active forces and the National Guard to vaccination mega-hubs.
Biden said on Monday he has set a goal of vaccinating 1.5 million people per day in the coming weeks.
“It will be a logistical challenge that is beyond anything we have ever tried in this country, but I think we can do it,” Biden said at a press conference.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday the target was ambitious, and White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt said the next day it would take “months.” before anyone who wants a vaccine can get one, The Hill reported.
In a statement to CNN on Tuesday, Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain noted a number of obstacles the administration faces in meeting its vaccination goals.
“It’s not just vaccines,” he said, the newspaper reported. “In some states … the problem is the lack of people to do vaccines. We are working to increase that capacity. In some states there are not enough places. We have announced the establishment of federal vaccination centers. So we need more vaccines, we need more vaccinations, we need more places to get vaccinations. We’re working on those three things. “
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