US officials promised 20 million vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of the year. It’s going slower than that
While the coronavirus pandemic continued to surge throughout the summer and fall, federal government officials repeatedly offered a ray of hope: enough vaccine doses to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of December.
But after the first week of vaccine distribution and with only nine days left to meet their self-imposed deadline, Operation Warp Speed is on track to fall well short of 20 million shots in arms.
One count, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows about 11.4 million doses have been distributed as of Monday morning and about 2.1 million have been administered — not even close to the goal Warp Speed originally set.