Pharmacies and health centers around the country have begun distributing the first of the 400 million N95 masks the White House is sending out to combat the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19.
President Joe Biden announced the initiative last week, sending out masks from the Strategic National Stockpile as health experts stressed the importance of high-quality face coverings to protect against omicron variant.
"We know that these masks provide better protection than cloth masks," Dr. Tom Inglesby, the administration's COVID testing coordinator, told NBC News last week.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
The Department of Health and Human Services said the masks would be available at "thousands of pharmacies and community health centers nationwide." The agency described the effort as "the largest deployment by the Strategic National Stockpile to date and it’s also the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history."
