The frozen blast in most of the United States on Wednesday injected more confusion and frustration into the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination action on Wednesday as speed gathered, muttering vaccine deliveries and forcing the cancellation of countless fires across the country.
In a vast area of the nation, including deep southern states such as Georgia and Alabama, snowy and slippery weather has either led to the direct closure of vaccination sites or sustained the necessary transports, with delays expected to continue for days. whole.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the doses expected this week were delayed by weather in other parts of the country, forcing the city to give up vaccination schedules between 30,000 and 35,000.
A public health expert said the delays were unacceptable.
“The fact that vaccination centers take snow days just means supporting things more than they already are,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “The virus does not last on snowy days.”
Adalja said people in charge of vaccination efforts need to find ways to be more weather-resistant, “just as postal agents can deliver mail by sleet or snow.” He suggested that clinics use better contingency plans. The goal, he said, must be “a continuous assembly line of vaccines that enter people’s arms.”
Jo Dohogne of Bartlett, Tennessee, said she scheduled two meetings this week to receive the second dose of the Modern vaccine, but both were canceled due to bad weather.
Dohogne, 75, who has multiple sclerosis, said she felt left out while the six-week mark for the second dose approached after the first vaccination on January 14.
“I’m just stressed … it’s like it’s taking my whole life,” Dohogne said.
After her vaccination appointment was canceled on Saturday, Dohogne said a neighbor’s friend helped her go through the vaccine registration process. But without knowing when she could get the second shot, Dohogne said she was “just frustrated and stressed.”
In Washington, COVID-19 White House coordinator Jeff Zients said that in places where vaccination sites have been closed, such as Texas, the government encourages sites to increase their hours after they open.
“We want to make sure that because we’ve wasted some time in some states so that people can have needles in their arms, our partners are doing everything they can to make up for that lost ground,” he said.
Some deliveries of the vaccine made by Pfizer were delayed in the south due to bad weather, but the company did not know about any damage to the vaccine, said spokesman Eamonn Nolan. Pfizer vaccines, which must be kept frozen at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34.4 degrees Celsius), are delivered with dry ice in temperature-controlled containers that last up to 10 days unopened.
In southern Nevada, officials reported that winter storms delayed a shipment of Modern vaccines scheduled to be administered as the second dose this week.
The US vaccinates an average of 1.7 million Americans a day against COVID-19, up from less than 1 million a month ago. The new figures from the White House show a steady increase in the rate of vaccinations compared to the first month in office of President Joe Biden.
Much of the increase, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes from people receiving the second dose. The rate of first-dose vaccinations has been largely constant over the past few weeks, fluctuating around 900,000 photos per day.
Biden is on track to surpass its goal of 100 million photos in its first 100 days in operation – although the pace needs to increase even more to meet plans to vaccinate almost all adults by the end of the summer.
The White House also said the government will step up genetic analysis of coronavirus samples across the country to obtain information on where more infectious and potentially more lethal mutations can spread.
In the face of frustrating delays, some people have shown remarkable persistence. Fran Goldman, 90, of Seattle, told The Seattle Times that he walked 9.7 miles back and forth in the snow to get his vaccine.
Goldman said that after much effort, he finally secured a place for Sunday morning, but a strong storm passed on Friday and Saturday, filling the streets with snow.
Goldman dressed in wool pants and tossed a few warm coats over a short-sleeved shirt so the nurse could easily reach her arm.
“It was not easy. It was a challenge, “she said. He arrived at the meeting, only five minutes late.
In other developments, Pennsylvania is experiencing a temporary shortage of doses of Modern vaccines after suppliers mistakenly used them as first doses. More than 100,000 people may have to reschedule their appointments.
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Noveck also reported from New York and Naishadham reported from Phoenix. Medical writer Linda A. Johnson contributed from Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, Jeff Martin of Atlanta and Michelle R. Smith of Providence, RI