WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led a letter to White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Jeff Zients urging the administration to use live event venues as vaccination administration sites. Leveraging live venue facilities holds the potential to further assist in the federal government’s response to this pandemic by helping expand the availability of vaccination centers that will serve as a critical tool for helping get communities vaccinated as the supply of vaccines continues to increase.
They wrote: “Live event venues have been effectively shuttered by the pandemic and offer vast resources that could help to better facilitate vaccine distribution – including facilities that offer spacious interiors and are designed to handle crowd management. These venues are also located in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the country and are popular with the communities they serve, and they are well equipped to help provide access to vaccines regardless of zip code. We believe that working with live event venues will support your effort for equitable distribution of the vaccine across the nation – with a focus on underserved populations. This effort would also go a long way towards addressing some of the longstanding health inequities exacerbated by this pandemic.”
Cornyn and Klobuchar were joined on the letter by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tom Carper (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jon Tester (D-MT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
Full text of the letter can be found here and below.
March 2, 2021
Mr. Jeff Zients
Response Coordinator
White House Coronavirus Task Force
Dear Mr. Zients,
We look forward to working with you to guide our country out of this pandemic. In an effort to create and expand vaccination sites that will help get coronavirus vaccines administered, we encourage you to consider the use of live event venues and workforce to ensure that vaccines are accessible across all communities as the supply of vaccines continues to increase.
Time is of the essence in distributing and administering coronavirus vaccines, and we must make use of all available resources for doing so. As of now, this pandemic has taken the lives of over 500,000 Americans and is projected to cost the American economy over $16 trillion. A swift vaccination effort will help prevent further harm and reduce the risk posed by emerging coronavirus variants that are considered to be more contagious and threaten the progress being made by the trend in falling coronavirus cases across the country.
The progress made in establishing federally-supported vaccination centers across the nation acknowledges that the scale and speed of administering vaccines is key to combating this pandemic. Not all states and jurisdictions have the necessary resources to administer vaccines at the pace this crisis demands, so federal support to help establish and expand available vaccination centers is a critical component of the national vaccination strategy.
As you know, there have been many logistical challenges in the administration of coronavirus vaccines, and as of now, over 50 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose. We believe that leveraging live event venues as vaccine administration sites will help to build on recent positive trends and address some of the issues that have contributed to slow vaccination efforts.
Live event venues have been effectively shuttered by the pandemic and offer vast resources that could help to better facilitate vaccine distribution – including facilities that offer spacious interiors and are designed to handle crowd management. These venues are also located in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the country and are popular with the communities they serve, and they are well equipped to help provide access to vaccines regardless of zip code. We believe that working with live event venues will support your effort for equitable distribution of the vaccine across the nation – with a focus on underserved populations. This effort would also go a long way towards addressing some of the longstanding health inequities exacerbated by this pandemic.
We encourage the continued efforts towards establishing vaccination sites that can serve all communities across the nation as the supply of vaccines continues to increase. As your partners in Congress, we look forward to working with you as you continue to implement your national strategy for guiding our country out of this pandemic.
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
/s/