[Lucy Nicholson, Reuters]The United States has a backlog of six million COVID-19 vaccine doses due to winter storms and power outages weather, White House officials said at a media briefing on Friday, adding that the federal government expects to catch up with vaccine distribution by next week. All 50 states are impacted, said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 response team. He said delays were due to road closures, shipping company employees unable to get to work, and power outages in certain locations. The United States has been ramping up shipments of vaccines. The two companies on Thursday said they have started an international study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine in healthy pregnant women.

Source: Standard Digital February 19, 2021 18:11 UTC