DOD Will Prioritize Its Healthcare Workers With First COVID Doses

Within 48 hours of emergency authorization, the Department of Defense aims to have shots in the arms of some 44,000 mostly healthcare military personnel across 16 global locations, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Among the first to receive shots will not be those safeguarding U.S. national security.

“They most definitely come in,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery told the Washington Examiner, before clarifying that only about five senior officials would be part of the first tranche.

“The 44,000 that we expect to get initially, that we will be testing through those 16 sites, those won’t even cover the very first section of Phase 1A, which is going to be healthcare workers,” he said.

McCaffery said acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Deputy Secretary David Norquist, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, Vice Chairman John Hyten, and Senior Enlisted Adviser to the Joint Chiefs CZ Colon would likely be the only five people to be offered the first vaccine as soon as emergency authorization is granted. (Read more from “DOD Will Prioritize Its Healthcare Workers With First COVID Doses” HERE)

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