Snowstorms, holidays and general inexperience in handling a pandemic response is to blame for a “lag” in the number of Americans so far vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to U.S. officials.
The federal government previously estimated that 20 million Americans would receive the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine by the end of the year. But as 2020, a year defined by the coronavirus pandemic, comes to a close on Thursday, the government appears set to fall well short of that goal.
U.S. Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, and Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to federal vaccine effort, said the U.S. has deployed around 14 million vaccine doses as of Wednesday, but only 2.1 million people had received shots. Perna and Slaoui spoke on Wednesday during a news conference.
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