Veterans Voice: VA vaccinating as quickly as we can
By Mary K. Talbot
It has been one year since the pandemic began and the toll upon our veteran population has been significant. More than 230,000 veterans have been infected with the virus and 10,605 have succumbed to the disease as of March 4.
However, hope is on the horizon for veterans and the healthcare providers who serve them.
Progress is being made on the vaccine front. “The VA has administered well over 2.1 million doses of the [COVID-19] vaccines. These include over 1.1 million first doses to veterans and 484,000 doses first and second doses to VA employees which have inoculated well over 90 percent of our clinical staff,” reported Acting Under Secretary for Health Richard A. Stone, of the Veterans Health Administration, in his testimony on Feb. 24 to the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.