U.S. Opens COVID Vaccine Site for Afghan Refugees, Americans Returning from Nation
Afghan refugees arriving in the United States near Dulles International Airport are able to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at a site set up by the federal government, a senior Biden official said Friday, according to the Associated Press.
Thousands of the refugees fleeing the Taliban after its swift takeover in Afghanistan are arriving at the airport daily, prompting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to launch the mass vaccination site and begin giving shots.
The Biden official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity, added that another mass vaccination site is expected to pop up in the next few days for evacuees arriving at the Philadelphia International Airport.
The White House announced earlier in the week that it is in the process of giving vaccinations to refugees who are medically eligible once they arrive in the U.S.
Officials in the Biden administration said they were making sure the refugees are vaccinated as soon as possible upon arriving in the country. Since many of the evacuees were already receiving medical screenings at the Dulles Expo Center and are being housed there before being transferred to military bases in New Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin and Texas, officials felt it was the most efficient place to put the vaccination site.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
The shots—the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine—are being administered by the National Disaster Medical System team, and State Department translators are on hand at the site to answer questions about the shots.
Evacuees are also tested for the virus upon arrival and quarantined if they test positive. The official said data was not available on how many of the evacuees, many who were tested prior to leaving Kabul, have tested positive for the virus since arriving in the U.S.
The U.S. government also on Thursday opened a mobile vaccination unit at Dulles airport to provide COVID-19 shots to evacuating American citizens and green card holders who fled Afghanistan.
A tiny percentage of Afghanistan's 40 million people have been vaccinated for the virus. As of August 20, about 1.2 million doses had been administered in Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization.
