Accessibility links

Breaking News

Pentagon Evaluating Request for Help in Administering COVID-19 Vaccines


Orange County firefighter Christopher Huerta receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Irvine, Calif., Jan. 27, 2021.
Orange County firefighter Christopher Huerta receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Irvine, Calif., Jan. 27, 2021.

The Pentagon is evaluating a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide help in administering COVID-19 vaccines, a spokesman said Thursday.

On Monday, President Joe Biden said he believed it was possible to have 150 million doses of the vaccine administered in his first 100 days in office.

"Given the significance of the request, it will be reviewed urgently but carefully to determine what DOD assets can safely be made available to support the effort," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

While the statement did not provide the number of troops that could be involved, a U.S. official told Reuters it could number in the thousands.

The pandemic, which has killed more than 420,000 Americans, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is currently infecting more than 173,000 people daily and has left millions out of work.

Using the military to fight the coronavirus is not new. At the peak of the practice under former President Donald Trump, more than 47,000 National Guard troops were supporting COVID operations across the country and about 20,000 continue to help.

The Army Corps of Engineers also has built thousands of rooms around the country to assist hospitals with the strain caused by spread of the coronavirus.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG