Although it may not snow much in San Diego County, snow and severe weather in other parts of the United States are affecting vaccine delivery in our region, which will cause delays in local vaccinations.
At a weekly news conference focused on COVID-19 updates, San Diego County supervisor Nathan Fletcher said the county had received news that several shipments of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines scheduled to arrive this week in County San Diego will not arrive due to inclement weather impacting the country.
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“This will affect our ability to administer vaccines this week,” said Fletcher. “A second set of delays will have a very significant impact on our system.”
A second set of delays will have a very significant impact on our system.
San Diego count supervisor, Nathan Fletcher
Moderna’s main plant is in Michigan, while Pfizer is in Massachusetts, county officials said.
Fletcher said the routes from these facilities to San Diego County were affected by the harsh winter.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher detailed the reasons for the delay in sending the vaccine during a press conference on February 17, 2021.
As a result of delays in sending the vaccine, Fletcher said the county will have to stop vaccination in some locations as early as Thursday.
“It is also very likely that we will reschedule appointments,” he explained. “We appreciate everyone’s patience. We continue to monitor the situation. We will adjust and, as a county, we will continue to do everything we can to get vaccines to arms as quickly as possible. “
San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said that some coronavirus vaccination sites will have to “pause” immunizations as early as Thursday due to the delay, reports NBC 7’s Omari Fleming.
NBC 7 is working to gather information about the specific vaccination sites that will experience these delays.
On Wednesday, county public health officials said the county administered 663,000 coronavirus vaccines.
Fletcher said the county is “frustrated” by the delays and understands that the public will experience the same frustration.
He said county public health officials believe that supply chain problems “will be resolved in the next week to 10 days.”
“We have a high degree of confidence that in the first week of March, we will be able to move to the first level of essential workers: teachers, agriculture and law enforcement,” added Fletcher at Wednesday’s briefing. “We think we are reaching a point where we have reached a significant number of elderly people and, with the arrival of supplies, we believe that in the first week of March we will be able to do this.”
Fletcher said on Wednesday that he did not expect the delays to be significant enough to cause someone scheduled for a second dose to exceed the six-week deadline recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, since most follow-up vaccines are scheduled for two to three weeks after the initial shot.
However, the county supervisor said the delay in delivery and the subsequent shortage could affect some appointments for the first shots.
“[There] it will be tremendous pressure on the system to comply with second dose appointments, which means, except for some significant changes in supply chains, the availability of first dose appointments for the next week to 10 days is likely to be quite limited, “said Fletcher.
Previous San Diego County Vaccine Delays
The coronavirus vaccine arrived in San Diego County in mid-December 2020, but this is not the first time that delays have affected the flow of local vaccinations.
On February 12, the county said that an expected shipment of Modern COVID-19 vaccines had never arrived and this would affect the availability of vaccines in the region. The origin of the delay in that shipment was unclear.
The scarcity led the county to close its super vaccination post in Petco Park, in the East Village, for three days. During this delay, vaccination appointments were postponed and rescheduled, as the county prioritized people who should receive the second dose.
The delayed shipment arrived on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, the super station in the East Village reopened.