The winter storms that have left more than two dozen dead and left millions of people without power are also likely to cause ‘widespread delays’ in the transport of Covid-19 vaccines in the coming days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday said.
“Due to the severe winter weather currently affecting much of the country, the U.S. government is proposing major delays in COVID-19 vaccine shipments and deliveries over the next few days,” said CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed. said in an email.
“Delivery partners are working to deliver vaccine where possible, depending on local conditions, but the adverse weather is expected to continue to affect the shipment of the FedEx facility in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as the UPS facility in Louisville, Ken. which serve as vaccines for different countries, ”said Reed.
According to the CDC, more than 39 million people in the United States received one or more doses of vaccine on Tuesday night. About 15 million received both doses.
In Texas, where more than 4 million people are in cold traffic after the weather system paralyzed the state’s electricity network, the state health service said the load of this week’s vaccination will only arrive early on Wednesday.
“Nobody wants to endanger the vaccine by delivering it in dangerous conditions,” the department tweeted on Tuesday.
On Monday, officials in Harris County, where Houston lives, scrambled to administer thousands of doses of Moderna’s vaccine after a power outage and a backup generator failed.
“I literally dropped everything, tackled everything here and jumped here,” a student at Rice University, one of the five places where the doses were administered, told the NBC branch of KPRC in Houston.
Chicago closed all vaccination and testing areas in the city due to the weather on Tuesday, saying shipments to the city will be delayed – although it is catching up fast.
The governors of Ohio and Florida also said shipments would be affected. The Colorado Department of Health said delays would affect the allotment of 133,000 vaccine doses expected to arrive by Thursday.
In Pennsylvania, the Geisinger health care system scheduled appointments at some facilities scheduled for Wednesday and Friday. Appointments in Monmouth County, New Jersey, for Wednesday have been rescheduled for Friday.
When a major winter storm this month caused stormy conditions in parts of Pennsylvania and the Northeast, there were also some delays in vaccinating the vaccine, closing vaccination sites and rescheduling appointments.
