Winter weather scrambles vaccine distribution, so NC counties must play catch-up

Snow in Memphis, Tenn., for example, forced FedEx to reroute vaccine shipments away from its main hub into smaller hubs elsewhere in the U.S. that weren't affected by weather, tangling the supply lines from manufacturers to states to local health care providers.

Halifax County had to cancel vaccination clinics this week because the shipment of doses officials expected this week didn't arrive, Health Director Bruce Robistow said.

“We had vaccine clinics set up for Wednesday and Thursday, so late afternoon Tuesday, we came to the realization we weren’t going to get vaccine in time for Wednesday’s event," Robistow said.

Halifax County wasn't alone.

WRAL News surveyed more than 20 area counties on Friday and found none of them received the doses they expected this week.

While a few postponed vaccination clinics because of inclement weather, including a Thursday clinic outside PNC Arena in Raleigh, several said the bad weather elsewhere that disrupted vaccine shipments was the reason clinics had to be canceled and appointments rescheduled.

"We had an event that was scheduled for Thursday, and we needed it for Thursday,” Franklin County Health Director Scott Lavigne said of 975 doses of Pfizer vaccine that never arrived.

When that didn't happen, a clinic planned for Thursday was scrapped, he said.

Johnston County officials said they have delayed finalizing plans for administering 900 shots at vaccination clinics next week because they didn't get any doses this week.

Federal officials said the backlog of vaccine shipments should be cleared by the end of next week, and next week's shipments should go out on time. That means states, counties and health care providers will need to adjust for the added volume next week, they said.

Robistow said providers in Halifax County will pick up the pace to make sure those who wanted the shot will still get it.

"We are going to basically going to have to do double duty next week – twice what we would normally get done – and the team is up to that," he said.

Roughly 1,200 people missed out on their shots at the canceled clinics this week, Robistow said.

“We assured them [that], as soon as we received vaccine, we would reinstate their appointments and get them taken care of as quickly as possible,” he said.

Franklin County also has the capacity to handle a larger-than-normal number of vaccinations next week, Lavigne said.

Wake County officials said they have enough doses for the drive-thru clinic at PNC Arena scheduled for Saturday, when more than 1,400 people are expected to get shots, and state officials said the delays also won't affect plans to open up vaccine eligibility to teachers, school personnel and child care workers next Wednesday.

Teachers and others in Wake County can start registering on Monday for vaccinations, officials said. With the county's lengthy waiting list, however, it's unclear when they will actually get vaccinated.

But Lavigne said Franklin County plans to delay adding more people to its waiting list until more people age 65 or older have been vaccinated.