Navajo Nation gets FEMA help with vaccine shots
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending support teams to help the Navajo Nation distribute its COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The Navajo Nation has administered more than 74,000 doses of the vaccine so far, according to officials. The FEMA teams started arriving Feb. 7 and will be deployed for at least 30 days.
“Our goal is to administer at least 100,000 doses of the vaccines by the end of February and we are on track to accomplish that goal,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a press release.
FEMA sent more than 81 support workers to the Navajo Nation, FEMA Public Affairs Officer Brandi Richard Thompson said in an email to The Arizona Republic.
“As vaccine allocations increase to the Navajo Nation, we anticipate additional personnel being requested and will support the tribe,” Thompson said, adding that “we anticipate extending personnel to the Navajo Nation based on need/request.”
The Navajo Nation is expecting to receive 28,925 vaccine doses this week, 26,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 2,925 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Nez reported that the Navajo Area IHS had received 78,520 vaccine doses and as of Monday, 74,048 of those doses have been administered, which is a 94% efficiency rate.
“Confidence in the vaccines is very high here on the Navajo Nation and that increases demand across the board,” Nez said.
The tribe was able to get the additional vaccine doses through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. The act allocated $210 million to IHS to support
COVID-19 vaccine-related activities for tribes and $790 million for COVID-19 testing efforts.
FEMA’s federal personnel will assist with the Navajo Nation’s vaccination efforts at health care facilities in Fort Defiance, Tuba City, Winslow, and in Utah.
President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration for the Navajo Nation early this month over the coronavirus pandemic, a move that opens federal resources to sustain the tribe’s ongoing response effort.
The declaration supports the tribe’s response and recovery work through funding from FEMA for medical staffing, vaccine support, supplies, equipment and personnel.
According to FEMA, the federal funding is available to the Navajo Nation on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures for all areas affected by COVID-19.
“The assistance that our Nation has received from FEMA since the start of the pandemic has been very helpful and effective,” said Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer.
“All the assistance from the federal level is supplementing the great work being done by our health care workers on the Navajo Nation,” he added.
As of Tuesday, the Navajo Nation reported a cumulative total of 28,994 positive COVID-19 cases, with 1,075 total deaths and 15,635 people who have recovered.
“We have some very good indications that the numbers of new cases continue to flatten, but we have to stay the course and keep taking all precautions to prevent more COVID-19 cases,” Nez said.
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