The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeing the same lag in coronavirus vaccine demand that many providers and community leaders are seeing.

“That underscores the importance of us continuing to make the case for vaccinations,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said this week, according to Military Times.

More than 2.2 million veterans have been fully vaccinated by the department, along with about 360,000 others, such as spouses, caregivers and VA employees.

At one point, VA had about 75,000 vaccine appointments a day, but that number has dropped to 30,000, McDonough said. He added that much of the hesitancy is among veterans in rural communities.

Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. William Redding