While it may not snow much in San Diego County, the snow and severe weather in other parts of the US are affecting the delivery of vaccines to our region, delaying local vaccinations.
During a weekly newsletter focused on COVID-19 updates, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said the county had been notified that several shipments of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines arriving in San Diego County this week will not arrive due to inclement weather conditions that affect the country.
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“This will affect our ability to deliver vaccines this week,” said Fletcher. “A second set of delays will have a major impact on our system.”
A second set of delays will have a major impact on our system.
San Diego Count Supervisor Nathan Fletcher
Moderna’s primary manufacturing facility is in Michigan, while Pfizer’s is in Massachusetts, county officials said.
Fletcher said routes from those facilities to San Diego County have been affected by the harsh winter weather.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher explained the reasons for vaccine shipping delays at a press conference on February 17, 2021.
Due to the delays in vaccine shipping, Fletcher said the county will have to interrupt vaccinations in some locations as early as Thursday.
“We will also very likely reschedule appointments,” he explained. “We appreciate everyone’s patience. We will continue to monitor the situation. We will adapt and as a province will continue to do everything we can to get vaccines in arms as soon as possible. “
San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said some local coronavirus vaccination sites have to “pause” vaccinations as early as Thursday because of the delay, Omari Fleming of NBC 7 reports.
NBC 7 is working to gather information about the specific vaccination sites that will experience these delays.
Last Wednesday, county public health officials said the county administered 663,000 coronavirus vaccines.
Fletcher said the county is “frustrated” by the delays and understands the public will feel the same frustration.
He said county public health officials believe supply chain problems “will resolve themselves up to 10 days within the next week.”
“We are very confident that in the first week of March we will be able to transition to that first tier of essential workers: teachers, agriculture and law enforcement,” added Fletcher during Wednesday’s briefing. “We think we’ll get to a place where we’ve reached a significant number of seniors, and when supplies come in, we think we’ll be able to do that in the first week of March.”
Fletcher said on Wednesday that he did not expect the delays to be significant enough to push someone scheduled for a second dose past the six-week timeframe advised by the Centers for Disease Control, as most follow-up shots are scheduled for two up to three weeks. after the first shot.
However, the provincial supervisor said the delay in delivery and the subsequent shortage may affect some appointments for the first shots.
[There] will be a tremendous burden on the system to meet second dose agreements, which means that, barring some significant changes in supply chains, the availability of first dose appointments for the next week will likely be quite limited to 10 days, “said Fletcher. .
Past vaccine delays in San Diego County
The coronavirus vaccine first arrived in San Diego County in mid-December 2020, but this isn’t the first time delays have affected the flow of local vaccinations.
On Feb. 12, the province said an expected shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines never arrived and would affect the availability of vaccines in the region. The cause of the delay in that shipment was unclear.
The shortage prompted the county to shut down its vaccination superstation at Petco Park in the East Village for three days. During that delay, vaccination appointments were postponed and rescheduled as the county prioritized people who needed their second dose.
The overdue shipment arrived on Tuesday and the East Village superstation reopened on Wednesday.