Pentagon officials said Wednesday they have chosen 16 locations as part of a “controlled pilot program” for the Defense Department’s rollout of the new COVID-19 vaccine.
The locations, 13 in the U.S. and three overseas, have been picked based on several criteria such as nearby ultra-cold bulk storage facilities, a population of at least 1,000 priority military personnel, and enough medical personnel to both administer the vaccine and monitor recipients.
“The (Department of Defense) prioritization plan is consistent with (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and prioritizes health care providers and support personnel, residents and staff of DoD long-term care facilities, other essential workers and high risk beneficiaries to receive the vaccine before other members of the health DoD population,” Thomas McCaffery, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told reporters.
The locations include the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California. Overseas U.S. military hospitals for initial vaccination sites include Kadena Medical Facility at Kadena Air Base in Japan and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
“The (Department of Defense) is ready to execute a global COVID vaccination plan for our servicemembers, as well as military families (and) retirees,” said Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, director of the Defense Health Agency.
The two U.S. military retirement homes in Washington, D.C., and Gulfport, Mississippi, will be included in the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations because they are considered extremely high risk, officials said.
The phased roll-out is expected to continue until approximately 60 percent of the Department of Defense has been vaccinated, at which time the supply is sufficient to offer doses in a manner similar to the military’s annual flu vaccine.
“We will monitor the uptake and make adjustments to our plans going forward as necessary and as lessons (are) learned from this controlled pilot,” Mr. McCaffery said.
The Department of Defense is one of 64 agencies to which the federal government has allocated vaccines. The military will receive an initial allocation of just under 44,000 doses.
The first wave of distribution sites was selected by the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 Task Force, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
At first, permission to distribute the vaccine will be made under emergency approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and under CDC guidelines. Under the emergency approval, getting the vaccine will be voluntary for military personnel. If it’s a success, it will eventually be mandatory, officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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