Vaccine availability remains the big challenge before anticipated surge in cases, expert says

Vaccine availability remains the big challenge before anticipated surge in cases, expert says After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that severe weather around the US will delay Covid-19 vaccine deliveries in the coming days, infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm says this will not slow down production, it will just delay when the shots get into people’s arms. Instead, the big concern is the availability of enough doses and how many people can be vaccinated before the anticipated surge in Covid-19 cases due to the UK variant. By <a href="/profiles/sarah-faidell">Sarah Faidell</a>, <a href="/profiles/brad-lendon">Brad Lendon</a>, <a href="/profiles/joshua-berlinger">Joshua Berlinger</a>, Mary Ilyushina and Ed Upright, CNN CNN

After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that severe weather around the US will delay Covid-19 vaccine deliveries in the coming days, infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm says this will not slow down production, it will just delay when the shots get into people’s arms. Instead, the big concern is the availability of enough doses and how many people can be vaccinated before the anticipated surge in Covid-19 cases due to the UK variant.

“This very likely, in the next five to 14 weeks, is going to cause a major surge of cases in this country. And our own work has shown that … over 30 million Americans over the age of 65 will not have access to vaccine in these next 12 to 14 weeks. That's a real challenge,” Osterholm said.

Before the severe weather conditions hit, the biggest challenge was availability of vaccines, he added.

Meanwhile, the decline in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations is “lulling us into a sense of security that we just can't afford,” he told CNN.

“Right now, we're loosening up everything at a time when this virus is just starting to take off. We've done everything we possibly can to give this as much a free ride in our community as anybody could imagine," he added. ...