Millions of US vaccine doses sit on ice, putting 2020 goal in doubt

Millions of COVID-19 vaccines are sitting unused in US hospitals and elsewhere a week into the massive inoculation campaign, putting the government's target for 20 million vaccinations this month in doubt.

As of Wednesday morning, only 1 million shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had been given, about one-third of the first shipment sent last week. Over 9.5 million doses of vaccines, including Moderna's, have now been sent to states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While hospitals have started giving out Moderna's vaccine, the CDC has not yet reported that data and there may be a lag in reporting shots given of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The slow pace has barely picked up from the first week when 614,000 shots were given although nearly 2.9 million were shipped.

Hospitals said the first COVID-19 vaccinations started slowly last Monday as they navigated preparing the previously frozen shots for use, finding employees to run the vaccination clinics, and ensuring proper social distancing both before and after vaccination. Some said they did only about 100 shots the first day.

They were contending with a COVID-19 surge, as cases around the United States surpassed 18 million with 323,000 deaths.

The Trump administration promised to vaccinate 20 million by the end of the year while providing little funding to achieve the goal.

That's nine days to give out nearly 19 million shots or over 2 million people vaccinated a day including on Christmas Day.

Almost 5.9 million doses of Moderna Inc's vaccine should go out this week and an additional 2 million doses from Pfizer and partner BioNTech.

"The commitment that we can make is to make vaccine doses available," US Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui said on a Wednesday press call. He noted the rate of people getting a shot in their arm is "slower than we thought it would be."

Two more vaccines may be approved in February from Johnson & Johnson Inc and AstraZeneca Plc.

The government's goal is 100 million Pfizer and Moderna shots in arms by March 1.

Operation Warp Speed's General Gustave Perna, who is leading the vaccine distribution effort, on Monday said that the CDC data reflects a reporting lag and that the number of vaccinations will catch up as time goes on.

The CDC said its data may also reflect a lag between vaccine dosing and state reporting. Most nursing home vaccinations only began in mass this week, and the CDC data does not specify how many doses from the first shipment were being held by states for that group.