Vaccinations in U.S. Ramp Up After Momentum Loss Amid Storms

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. vaccination campaign has regained the momentum lost after severe winter weather in mid-February led to appointment cancellations, posting three consecutive days of two million shots or more since Friday.

Before the storms, the U.S. had a seven-day average of 1.6 million daily vaccine doses or more distributed for 10 straight days. The impact showed in the vaccination data starting Feb. 20, lowering the seven-day average to 1.3 million to 1.4 million doses daily for eight days.

That amounts to about 2 million doses delayed, according to an analysis of seven-day averages from the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. The gap began closing four days ago, as backlogged doses reached states by the middle of the week, as pledged by the Biden administration.

The biggest gains came through the weekend with a blockbuster three days of peak doses reported -- 2.2 million doses delivered on Friday and 2.4 million doses each on Saturday and Sunday.

The push drove the seven-day average back to 1.6 million doses per day on Saturday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday reported 1.7 million doses, meaning a shortfall of about 1.1 million doses remains to be made up.

The analysis did not consider variations among states as gains could be led by some large states rather than proportionally.

Capacity Shifts

Still, the rapid makeup bodes well as a test of being able to respond to interruptions and indicates that states have the capacity to administer more shots than they have in the past. This capacity will be tested in the coming weeks amid an anticipated immunization surge, including adding the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the mix.

The historic outbreak of arctic air moved over Texas and Oklahoma as early as Feb. 8, according to the National Weather Service. Over two weeks, the frigid air produced record-breaking low temperatures, periods of snow and freezing fog across most of the Great Plains states, including the entire state of Texas.

The effect on the vaccinations campaign rippled outward to states that were not affected by the weather, as manufacturing and shipping at facilities slowed. About one in five states were affected, with Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi and Texas among the worst, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.

The federal government asked shipping partners to work extra shifts last weekend to dispatch extra doses to states.

The government encouraged states to get needles in arms by extending hours, working weekends and having more staff on hand, said Jeff Zients, the administration's Covid-19 response coordinator, at a briefing with reporters last week.

The improvements come as Americans are showing more enthusiasm for vaccines. A Feb. 15-23 poll of 1,874 adults for the KFF Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor showed that 55% have been vaccinated or want to be as soon as possible, up from 47% in January.

The poll shows the vaccine campaign hasn't necessarily swayed hard-core skeptics, but many respondents who might have planned to “wait and see” have either been inoculated or moved into the “as soon you can” camp.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.