The NFL is telling the federal government it will make the remaining of the league's 30 stadiums available as COVID-19 vaccination sites, joining the seven facilities already administering the vaccine.
In a letter sent Friday to President Joe Biden, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said many of the stadiums should be able to get vaccination efforts moving quickly because of previous offers to use stadiums as virus testing centers and election sites.
The seven clubs already using their stadiums as vaccine sites are the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots.
The letter reads:
At this Sunday's Super Bowl, the National Football League is honored to welcome to the game 7,500 vaccinated health care workers from across the country, who will attend as our guests in gratitude for their heroic service and to highlight the importance of vaccinations as our country recovers from the pandemic.
Our efforts will not stop there. The NFL and our 32 member clubs are committed to doing our part to ensure that vaccines are as widely accessible in our communities as possible. To that end, each NFL team will make its stadium available for mass vaccinations of the general public in coordination with local, state, and federal health officials. This is currently being done at seven NFL stadiums today. We can expand our efforts to stadiums across the nation more effectively because many of our clubs have offered their facilities previously as COVID testing centers as well as election sites over the past several months.
We look forward to further discussion with your administration as well as your partners in state and local governments to advance this effort. Thank you for your leadership and for allowing the NFL to assist your public health efforts.
Biden took office last month with a goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100 days of his administration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
