Currently, there are 34 active or temporarily closed federal community vaccination centers and 40 mobile pop-up centers in 28 states. Additionally, 10 mobile vaccination units are operating in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon, bringing vaccinations to hard-to-reach and high-risk populations who cannot access services from fixed sites. Two units in South Dakota are supporting the Indian Health Services mission to vaccinate tribal communities across the Great Plains. These centers and units have administered more than 3.8 million vaccinations. Since March 30, mobile units have delivered more than 18,400 vaccines to individuals.
On April 21, President Biden announced a tax credit for small and medium-sized businesses to fully offset the cost of paid leave for employees to get vaccinated and recover from any after-effects of vaccination. This tax credit will apply to nearly half of all private sector employees in America.
The Internal Revenue Service created a fact sheet and the Department of the Treasury has created a snapshot to educate employers on how to claim the paid sick leave credit on their quarterly tax filings.
Funeral Assistance
On April 12, FEMA began processing applications for funeral assistance, providing financial assistance for COVID-19-related funeral expenses incurred after Jan. 20, 2020.
Applicants may apply by calling 844-684-6333 (TTY: 800-462-7585) from 9a.m. to 9p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. Please note, phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number.
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- Multilingual services are available. The assistance line has helped applicants in nearly 40 languages.
- It is important that FEMA is able to contact applicants, so callers should ensure their contact information is correct. Callers who use a relay service, videophone or captioned telephones should provide their specific number assigned to that service.
As of April 22, FEMA has received more than 130,000 funeral assistance applications and has awarded more than $16,000.
FEMA Seeks Public Comments on Future Program Delivery
On April 22, to meet requirements of three Executive Orders, FEMA released a request for information to ensure that its programs, regulations and policies contain necessary, properly tailored and up-to-date requirements that effectively achieve the agency’s mission in a manner that furthers the goals of advancing equity for all:
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- EO 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.
- EO 13990 on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.
- EO 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
Feedback on the executive orders can be submitted through June 21 via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Docket ID: FEMA-2021-0011.