Winter storm delays 200,000 vaccines for Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – A winter storm leaving behind icy roads, power outages and dangerously low temperatures from the southwest to the Canadian border has delayed shipments of coronavirus vaccines to Florida, according to the chief emergency officer of the State.

Jared Moskowitz, the outgoing director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said on Monday that the state had been told the massive weather system would delay the shipment of vaccines.

His office told News4Jax on Tuesday that 200,000 Moderna vaccines which are expected to arrive on Tuesday have been delayed and are now expected to arrive on Thursday. The state still expects to receive the full vaccine allocation for the week and asks providers not to cancel appointments, but rather to reschedule appointments that would have been affected by the delay.

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Emergency management and health department officials provide regular updates to ensure vaccines are distributed effectively when they arrive, Governor Ron DeSantis said in a tweet on Tuesday.

News4Jax has learned that a shipment to Florida scheduled for Monday could arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Publix, which currently distributes vaccines to more than 500 of its pharmacies in Florida, delayed plans to schedule more appointments for Wednesday morning. It is not known if they will be able to accept appointments during the registration period scheduled for Friday.

“We know how important the administration of this vaccine is, so we deeply regret the need to cancel Wednesday’s programming event,” Publix Director of Communications Maria Brous said in a press release. . “Once the additional vaccine is received, we will announce the next vaccine appointment opportunity.”

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Brous said existing appointments scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday would not be affected.

Publix announced Friday that it has administered 250,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since mid-January, which represents nearly 30% of the vaccines administered in Florida in the past 30 days.

Walmart, Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores, which began delivering vaccines in northeast Florida counties earlier this month. A spokesperson for Southeastern Grocers, which owns both Winn-Dixie and Harveys, said he was affected by the delay.

“Our customers will be the first to know when additional appointments are available,” said Kaley Shaffer, director of public relations and community for Southeastern Grocers, which owns both Winn-Dixie and Harveys.

She urged people to visit winndixie.com/pharmacy/covid-vaccine for the latest information.

Officials from the Duval County Health Department said there was a delay in shipping Monday to the Regency Square Mall vaccination site, but they expect it to arrive soon and do not plan that it will have an impact on its daily operations.

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Baptist Health in Jacksonville said it was uncertain whether a shipment of 1,000 doses this week should be used for people under the age of 65 but found to be medically vulnerable.

“So we are planning, for example, a shipment of 1,000 doses today,” said Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Baptist. “It was delayed a bit by the weather.

In Clay County, the emergency operations chief says they have had no delays and their vaccination program is on track. The same is true for Nassau County. St. Johns County is still verifying.

Icy roads from the West Coast through the Midwest and into the South have cut off vaccinations at many sites, pushing back those with dates in the pool from those waiting. The disarray of the schedules could worsen, the bad weather having to last several days. Places from Oregon to Oklahoma might see a foot of fresh snow on weekends.

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Harsh winter conditions have triggered emergency declarations in at least seven states, including Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and Oregon. Even Okaloosa County, in Panhandle, Florida, closed its schools on Tuesday due to icy road conditions. Appointment for vaccines in Houston and Austin are scheduled to be canceled again Tuesday due to bad winter weather.

Flights to and from several major airports were canceled on Monday and further cancellations are expected on Tuesday.

Limited vaccine supplies, variable state plans, and other points of confusion have slowed efforts to deliver doses to Americans. Statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday showed that just over 10% of the country – 34.7 million people – received at least one dose and 11.2 million received both doses required for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

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According to the Florida Department of Health, 1,284,052 people in Florida have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and just over 1.1 million people in the state have received both vaccines. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows higher numbers for the state: 2.3 million people have received at least one dose.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.