With Vaccine Delay, Biden Warns of Uncertain End to Pandemic – The New York Times

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“We’re asking vaccine administration sites to extend their hours even further and offer additional appointments and to try to reschedule the vaccinations over the coming days and weeks as significantly more supply arrives,” Mr. Slavitt said.

The delay was a sign of how interconnected the nation’s vaccine distribution network is, vulnerable to substantial interruptions because of extreme weather. Mr. Slavitt said that FedEx, U.P.S. and McKesson — the drug distribution giant that manages Moderna’s vaccine — had been impeded, with workers snowed in and unable to package and ship vaccines, including the supplies that go with them.

FedEx and U.P.S., which have vaccine shipping hubs in Memphis and Louisville, Ky., would make Saturday deliveries this week, he said.

Closed roads on delivery routes were also forming a bottleneck, and more than 2,000 vaccination sites in areas with power failures could not receive doses. That prompted federal officials to hold off shipping to areas that might not be able to keep them at the frigid temperatures required.

Shipment delays have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Utah and Washington, among other states. In Texas, where millions of residents lost power during the powerful storm this week, a delivery of more than 400,000 first doses and 330,000 second doses had been delayed in anticipation of the bad weather.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccine.html

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