Military making progress on COVID-19 response, lawmakers want more A top general tells Senators that it will be late summer before all troops can get the vaccine. Author: Mike Gooding Updated: 6:34 PM EST February 25, 2021 WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense has administered more than one million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. "Americans can have hope and optimism that we are on the offense and we will defeat this virus and we will win," said Army General Gus Perna, head of Operation Warp Speed, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defense's COVID-19 response efforts on Thursday. But, in the very week that the United States passed the 500,000-mark in COVID-19 related deaths, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine was in no mood for celebrating.