The US must do better with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, Deputy Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir said Wednesday.
“Of course we have to do better, but all vaccination programs are starting a bit slow,” Giroir told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
He said he expects distribution to increase rapidly and the US is on track to disperse 20 million doses of vaccine by the first week of January.
“I know we will distribute about 30 million more in January and possibly another 50 million in February,” he said.
As pharmacies begin to play a greater role in vaccine delivery, Giroir said he expects the pace to accelerate.
“We have a federal contract with 40,000 pharmacies – that’s 60% of all pharmacies in the US – to provide vaccines,” said Giroir. “The scale will increase very rapidly as things progress and evolve.”
“Vaccines on the shelf are no good,” he added. “They need to get into people’s arms, and we leave no stone unturned for that.”
Some background information: Operation Warp Speed is on track to fall far short of the 20 million vaccination shots they predicted would be delivered by the end of December.
According to data provided to CNN by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 2.6 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the United States.