National Guard among first to get virus vaccine

Over 1,000 doses are expected to arrive in Watervliet next week

About 1,600 New York National Guard members who are helping the state fight COVID -19 will be among the first members of the U.S. military to be vaccinated.

The New York National Guard expects over 1,000 doses of the Pfizer-biontech coronavirus vaccine to arrive at the New York National Guard Medical Command in Watervliet early next week, depending on the timing of U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization, said Col. Richard Goldenberg, a public affairs officer for the New York National Guard. The vaccine will be administered to these National Guard members at two arsenals or training sites in upstate and downstate New York, Goldenberg said.

New York and Indiana are the only states whose National Guard members will be inoculated in the initial push of vaccine distribution by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Due to limited availability of the vaccine, the Pentag on chose 17 sites in the United States and three at medical facilities serving the U.S. military in other countries to receive the first batch of the vaccine. These sites will vaccinate health care workers in the U.S. military.

The Department of Defense announced these locations and its vaccination distribution plan on Wednesday. Later, other military members, dependents and DOD contractors, including those with health risks, will be vaccinated.

The New York National Guard estimates it will be able to vaccinate 1,600 service members in 96 hours, Goldenberg said. The New York National Guard does not have ultra-cold storag e capacity, so it will store the vaccine in dry ice thermal containers until it is administered.

Members of the New York National Guard Medical Command have been rehearsing the steps for vaccine receipt, storag e and administration in preparation.

The doses that the New York National Guard will receive are separate from 170,000 vaccines New York will g et in its first batch because the National Guard is supplied through the Department of Defense.

The New York National Guard will not be involved in distributing COVID -19 vaccines for the g eneral population, Goldenberg said, although in some states like Louisiana, g overnors plan to tap their National Guard for that purpose.

But New York Guard members are responding to the virus in other ways.

“We are assisting with drive-thru testing sites from Long Island all the way to Buffalo,” Goldenberg said. “We are assisting the state with medical warehousing needs. We are assisting with travel advisory collection forms at airports around the state.”

Paul Buckowski / Times Union The New York National Guard will not assist with the vaccine distribution effort, but they have been assisting with drive-through testing sites across the states as well as with medical warehousing needs. The National Guard vaccine doses will come out of the DOD’S allocation.

Will Waldron / Times Union New York National Guard members will be among the first members of the military to receive doses of the Pfizer-biontech vaccine if it is approved by the FDA.