Winter Storm Delays Vaccine Deliveries To Florida: Report

FLORIDA — Winter weather affecting much of the country delayed coronavirus vaccine deliveries to Florida Monday and Tuesday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

It’s not clear how many doses are affected by the delay and when shipments will resume, reports said.

In Manatee County, Public Safety Director Jacob Saur said that the county has been told by state officials that severe winter storms in other parts of the country could delay vaccine shipments to Florida. If doses are delayed arriving locally, those residents who had appointments will be notified and then rescheduled when new shipments arrive, the county said.

Publix, the Lakeland-based grocer that began offering the vaccine in select stores in recent weeks, canceled its Wednesday scheduling event, Fox 13 reported.

The weather hasn’t impacted Publix vaccine appointments scheduled Wednesday and Thursday, though, reports said.

The weather delay comes after 6,705 new cases were reported Monday, according to Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard. This brings the state’s total number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic to 1,837,285.