Sen. Michael Bennet Helps Efforts To Get More Veterans Vaccinated For COVID
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- The VA is stepping up efforts to get all veterans vaccinated for COVID-19. Some of that help is coming from Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado.
Bennet toured a temporary vaccine clinic in Aurora on Tuesday. He also talked about his plan to speed the delivery of vaccines while putting veterans to work.
He introduced a bill last year to create a "health force" to train 100,000 people for jobs in public health, with veterans getting priority. Congress included $8 billion in the latest stimulus to fund the bill.
"We made sure that the health force was targeted to the communities that needed it the most and we've seen with the COVID pandemic it's affected different communities in different ways across the country and the highest need areas also have the lowest number of primary care doctors and nurses. The health force is meant to fill up some of that gap and lift everybody up, I hope," said Bennet.
Bennet said the health force is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps that Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt created after the Great Depression to put people back to work by building public infrastructure.
A recent study found Colorado's public health system is 40% underfunded.
The VA clinic is accepting morning walk-ins Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at 14280 E. Jewell Avenue in Aurora.
The VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System will have a second mass vaccination clinic in Colorado Springs on April 7 at 2260 E. Pikes Peak Avenue. The clinic is by appointment only.
Veterans enrolled with VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System may text '53079' to self-schedule their COVID-19 vaccine appointment with a verified phone number in our system.
Veterans may also schedule an appointment during their next VA visit or by calling 888-336-8262. Their Call Center is open 24/7 and shorter hold times may be experienced by calling after 6 p.m. and before 8 a.m.
Officials at the VA say 40,000 Veterans have either started or completed the vaccination process with the temporary VA clinic in Aurora, so far.
