Severe winter weather forces some states to delay COVID-19 vaccination efforts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it expects winter weather across the U.S. to cause major delays in vaccine shipments over the next few days.

Dangerous weather conditions are also forcing clinics and vaccination hubs to close, leaving many Americans with cancelled vaccination appointments.

“We want to make sure that as, as we’ve lost some time in some states for people to get needles in arms, that our partners do all they can to make up that lost round consistent with distributing the vaccine to people as efficiently and equitably as possible,” said Jeff Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator.

In Harris County, Texas, power outages put 8,400 vaccine doses at risk of expiring.

However, officials in many states say despite the weather challenges, vaccinations are still happening.

The CDC says second dose shots must be given after 3 weeks for the Pfizer vaccine and after 4 weeks for the Moderna vaccine.

Although public health officials do recommend getting the second vaccine dose as close as possible to the 3- or 4-week mark, you can still receive it as late as 6 weeks after the first shot.

According to Zients, the U.S. is administering an average of 1.7 million doses of the vaccine per day.

Providers blaming state for mix-up with COVID-19 vaccines