Frustration builds over slow pace of vaccine rollout 

More than 17 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccines have been shipped to all 50 states and the U.S. territories, enough to inoculate about 5 percent of the population against the deadly virus that has reshaped American life for almost a year.

But less than 30 percent of those shots have been used so far, leaving millions of doses in storage instead of in people’s arms.

While the distribution of the vaccine from drug companies to states and hospitals appears to have run smoothly so far, administering those doses to people has proved more sluggish and time consuming.

Nancy Messonier, who heads the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) immunization center, said in a live-streamed interview Tuesday she isn’t surprised by the early numbers, pointing to the newness of a mass vaccination program.

“It’s the early stages of a really complicated task but a task that we’re up for,” she said.

“We have to remember that these are new vaccines… the distribution of the vaccine, the storage and handling,  and the administration of these vaccines are slightly complicated.”