Winter Storms Delay Massive COVID-19 Vaccine Shipment To Colorado

A shipment of 133,000 COVID-19 vaccines that were to arrive in Colorado this week has been delayed due to the winter weather around most of the country.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the shipment was coming from a vaccine distribution hub in Tennessee. The vaccines were expected to arrive here from Tuesday through Thursday.

FOX31 says the CDPHE has informed the public that it's "working with Colorado's health care providers and local public health agencies across the state to make adjustments over the coming days to make sure appointments and clinics do not need to be canceled."

The CDPHE says because of President's Day weekend, the state had previously requested and received more doses on Friday.

"This decision helps us have enough on hand to work with providers to move doses around to prevent cancelations," they said.

Brigadier General Scott Sherman, who is head of the state's distribution, said 45,000 of the delayed doses were shipped on Tuesday, February 16, and the remaining will be shipped on Wednesday, February 17.

According to Sherman all of the delayed shipments were second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

"That was really a problem because some hospitals were waiting on second doses," Sherman said. "They were able to work between each other and get that taken care of make sure we enough on hand."

All of the delayed second doses should arrive in Colorado by Friday.

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