A medical worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) gear tends to a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) positive patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico, U.S. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

FILE – A third 22-member medical team from the U.S. military is being deployed to Michigan, where hospitals are grappling with record-high COVID-19 patients amid the state’s fourth surge of infections. The nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists will assist Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw starting Dec. 12, the state health department said, Dec. 2, 2021. AP

FILE- Oklahoman Gov. Kevin Stitt looks back at the needle after looking away while being administered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Oklahoma’s Republican governor and the state attorney general are suing in federal court to exempt the state’s National Guard from a Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandate. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE – Rhode Island Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Griego works in a coronavirus mass-vaccination site at the former Citizens Bank headquarters in Cranston, R.I. More U.S. states desperate to defend against COVID-19 are calling on the National Guard and other military personnel to assist virus-weary medical staffs at hospitals and other care centers. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)