Winter weather could delay COVID-19 vaccine appointments for Pennsylvanians

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The winter weather slamming much of the country is having an impact on getting COVID-19 vaccines to Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State Health Department said Thursday that vaccine manufacturers like Moderna and Pfizer couldn’t ship their doses to Pennsylvania this week because of the bad weather.

On Friday, the Health Department reiterated this, adding that it was alerted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that vaccines sent to providers by Moderna and Pfizer will be delayed.

Those delays could impact Pennsylvanians’ scheduled appointments, the Health Department said.

“Weather this week has been challenging in terms of getting vaccine delivered from manufacturers directly to vaccine providers in Pennsylvania and across the country,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said in a statement. “As we have been emphasizing, we are working with our vaccine providers to ensure they are aware of the shipment delays as they continue to be in contact with people who have scheduled appointments to reschedule so that people are assured their vaccine.”

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Beam said it’s too early to know which vaccine providers are being affected by the delays, but those providers will work to reschedule appointments as necessary.

Moderna vaccines were not shipped on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were not shipped on Monday, and a limited number were shipped on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meantime the state is also working to correct the vaccine shortage after tens of thousands of doses were given as first doses instead of second doses.

The mix-up could delay doses for as many as 100,000 Pennsylvanians, but the state said it’s working to make sure it can get the second dose in the arms of people within that 42-day timeframe.

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