The U.S. has vaccinated just 1 million Americans for COVID-19, according to figures released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 19 million doses shy of earlier projections for December.
More than 9.4 million doses have been distributed by the CDC, which says the inoculation figures might be higher, just not reported due to delays in distribution data. Currently, two COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed – one by Pfizer and the other by Moderna.
The Trump administration, which in May launched Operation Warp Speed, a $14 billion effort aimed at accelerating vaccine development and production, announced Wednesday it would buy an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, ensuring every American who wants to be vaccinated can be by June.
Operation Warp Speed's chief operating officer Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters Wednesday 20 million doses would be available to Americans before the end of the year.
"We do still feel strongly that we will have allocated to the states by the end of the year 20 million doses of vaccine that'll be available," Perna said. "We feel confident that we will be distributing the end part of that vaccine no later than the first week in January for everybody to have access to."
Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told CNN that goal seems ambitious.
"It does seem like getting to 20 million by the beginning of the year is ambitious," Plescia said.
Still, "people seem to be really very encouraged about how the vaccinations are going. Everybody seems to feel like they are using the supply that they have."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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