The first two Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-run mass vaccination sites opened Tuesday in California, part of the Biden administration’s effort to ramp up the federal government’s role getting vaccines in arms.
The sites, at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and California State University Los Angeles are designed to administer up to 6,000 vaccines each day and are intended to reach underserved communities.
The Department of Defense is also helping staff the sites.
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“FEMA is proud to partner with the state of California and the Department of Defense in opening the first of these pilot community vaccination sites,” said Acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton.
“These sites demonstrate how we can provide more opportunities for vaccination to the hardest hit communities and ensure everyone who wants a vaccine can get one.”
The Pentagon is sending troops to additional vaccination sites in Houston and Dallas, Texas as well as New York City next week.
Officials also announced four mobile vaccination clinics, two paired with each of the sites in Oakland and Los Angeles, to provide more opportunities to reach out to get people vaccinated.
President BidenJoe BidenBiden balks at K student loan forgiveness plan Biden offers to help woman in obtaining vaccine for son with preexisting condition Biden optimistic US will be in ‘very different circumstance’ with pandemic by Christmas MORE has called for 100 federal vaccination sites across the country by the end of February.
FEMA has deployed 1,279 staff members to help with vaccination efforts so far, the agency said. The National Guard has provided another 1,201 and there are 1,110 active-duty troops involved.
The pace of vaccinations overall in the US has been rising, with a 7-day average of 1.7 million shots per day, according to data compiled by Our World in Data.