The VA announced Monday that it will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines at 128 more locations throughout the United States, including six more locations in California.
Early last week, the VA had outlined an initial plan to deploy vaccine supplies to 37 locations throughout the country, including the Greater Los Angeles and Palo Alto VA Health Care Systems. The VA notes in its news release that the quick addition of over 100 new sites is directly related to the FDA granting emergency use authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Moderna’s vaccine can be stored in regular refrigerators instead of the advanced freezer units required for the former’s vaccine. However, both vaccines are over 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection according to the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee. VA Secretary Robert L. Wilkie was quoted in VA’s announcement, noting that “having a second COVID-19 vaccine will enable us to reach more facilities and vaccinate more health care personnel and veterans in additional parts of the country.”
With the new vaccine distribution plan, eight total VA locations in California will be offering the vaccines to VA health care workers as well as veterans living in long term care by the end of this week, provided there are no delays. The new locations will include Central California (Fresno), Northern California (Mather), San Francisco, Long Beach, Loma Linda, and San Diego VA Health Care Systems.
VA Activates DEMPS Program to Assist State Efforts to Contain COVID-19
The announcement of the updated vaccination plan comes as most states are battling increasing rates of COVID-19 infection.
To help local and state health care systems, including those in California, the VA recently implemented its Disaster Emergency Personnel System (DEMPS). Over 1,000 VA health care workers volunteered to assist overwhelmed civilian hospitals and care centers.
As of yet, there is currently no indication that veteran care has suffered in California or elsewhere as a result of the program’s activation.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
