DAVENPORT, Iowa — Public health officials are urging patience in spite of the slower-than-expected roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine.
While Operation Warp Speed has fallen short of its goal of administering 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the U.S. by the end of 2020, several thousand healthcare workers in the Quad Cities area have already received their first dose of the vaccine.
"You know, this is the largest public health effort in modern history," said Rock Island County Health Department Chief Operating Officer Janet Hill.
"Coupling that with the fact that we have never done it before and then the time of year that it happened, it's not shocking that it has gone a little clunkier than any of us would have hoped for."
Dr. Louis Katz, medical director for the Scott County Health Department said the federal government may have overpromised and underdelivered in it's first few weeks of vaccine distribution, but that it was not anything to worry about yet.
"I think we could have been a week or two ahead of the game," Dr. Katz said. "Compared to where we are with the kind of federal response that we had expected. But, under the circumstances we’re doing all right."