(CNN) – Millions of people across the country have seen Mother Nature’s worst up close with icy roads, power outages and dangerously low temperatures. But even as the storm moves northeast, its impact is still being felt in a big way as this winter blowout is taking a hit on the vaccine rollout.
From Texas to Illinois, severe winter weather is ripping across the country and as the ice and snow pile up so do delays to get vaccinated.
In Missouri, COVID-19 mass vaccination events across the state have been canceled for the rest of the week to keep people from waiting out in the brutal cold and off the roads.
Vaccination sites in Alabama and Georgia are temporarily closed too. Same goes for Kentucky.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said, “This weather is going to slow down our vaccinations. There’s simply going to be too much snow.”
Canceled flights are being blamed for delayed shipments of COVID-19 vaccines in multiple states.
Officials in Illinois and Nevada are expecting delayed shipments because of the weather. Same for Florida.
Then there’s the concern about power outages. The Oregon Health Authority says they lost electricity to some freezers protecting COVID-19 vaccine doses but they say it’s too early to tell if any have gone to waste.
When the power went out in Texas, officials scrambled to avoid throwing out more than 8,000 doses.
Executive VP of Houston Methodist Hospital Roberta Schwartz said, “We were able to get these vaccines that needed to be utilized very quickly into arms and not waste them.”
And Rice University students were quick to line up for a shot as officials promise delayed vaccinations will eventually get back on track.
Gov. Beshear said, “We believe we are going to be able to pick back up fully.”
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