Winter weather sparking major delay in Moderna vaccine distribution
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The weather delays are continue playing a huge role in getting the vaccine to the state of Arizona and Yuma County.
This week, the county was supposed to receive 6,200 Moderna vaccines but that didn't happen due to the winter storms plaguing the midwest and northeast.
Appointments throughout many vaccination sites have had to be rescheduled.
At Yuma Regional Medical Center’s (YRMC) civic center vaccine site, nearly 1,500 people were set to receive a vaccine this week.
The hospital says you will not lose your appointment time but there will be a delay. That means the day you get that vaccine has now changed.
Kristina McNair has been working at the YRMC vaccination site since it was first launched.
“We stopped scheduling as soon as we knew that there might be an issue with receiving that shipment on time because of whether all of those appointments have been shifted to next week so if you had an appointment on Thursday at 10 am, your appointment is now next Thursday at 10 am,” McNair explained.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), if counties or providers have not received their next shipments, they will most likely get both this week and next week’s shipments together.
Yuma County is still vaccinating residents in prioritized phase 1B. The delay in vaccine distribution has pushed back when the county moves into its next phase.
Tonight at 10 on CBS 13 - We hear from the county regarding the next steps after a whole week without an allocation of vaccines.