Hundreds of thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccine expected by residents of and officials in many states will not be arriving as soon as we had been led to believe.

After a few days of confusion — and finger pointing — about the shortfall, U.S. Army Gen. Gustave Perna fell on his sword a few days ago. “I’m the one who approved forecast sheets. I’m the one who approved allocations,” Perna told reporters.

He explained he had mistakenly assumed that once a batch of vaccine was manufactured, it could be shipped out. He failed to take into account a lag needed to conduct quality control and sterility tests, Perna explained.

Well, good for him for admitting his error. He says he will be more careful in the future.

We hope so — but hope is not good enough during this deadly epidemic. Perna should ask for the government to provide someone who can oversee his work and, if necessary, overrule him on critical matters.

While the general has earned respect for his admission of responsibility, Americans simply cannot tolerate any more major errors in the vaccine distribution process.