Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Texas Officials Scrambled To Administer COVID Vaccines Before They Expired During A Winter Storm

Texas Officials Scrambled To Administer COVID Vaccines Before They Expired During A Winter Storm

"We've got to get them into arms."

As a dangerous winter storm pummels Texas, leaving millions without electricity and at least 10 people dead, public health officials are scrambling to save one of the most essential commodities: coronavirus vaccines.

Huge swathes of the country have been hit with unprecedented winter conditions, but in Texas, which largely runs on its own electrical grid, power outages have pushed officials to distribute soon-to-expire COVID vaccines as quickly as possible.

Texas was already facing a delayed weekly shipment of vaccines from the CDC on Friday in anticipation of the storm, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Several counties announced that vaccination sites would be closed for days amid the freezing conditions.

"No one wants to put vaccine at risk by attempting to deliver it in dangerous conditions," Van Deusen told BuzzFeed News. "Local providers have postponed vaccine clinics because it is not safe for people to be out across much of Texas."

In Harris County, the most populous in the state and one of the hardest hit by the storm, a series of failed power events left officials scrambling to distribute those vaccines just hours before they expired.

The building that stored the county's supply of Moderna vaccines lost power early Monday. Then, its backup generator failed, and the refrigerator storing the vaccines did not send out a warning that its temperature had risen above the level required to keep the doses viable, Lina Hidalgo, a county judge and emergency management director for Harris County, told BuzzFeed News.

"By the time we realized what had happened, we had about six hours or so to get the vaccine distributed. There were around 8,300 doses that we needed to distribute," Hidalgo said. "We could not ask individuals to drive anywhere because the roads were totally impassable."

Officials quickly came up with a plan to find facilities with a large number of people that had medical personnel who could administer the vaccine. The county ended up distributing doses to three hospitals, the Harris County Jail — which is nearing capacity and has seen COVID-19 outbreaks among detainees — and Rice University.

"The moment we have vaccines that are about to spoil, we can't say, 'No we’re not going to give it to these folks because they’re too young' or whatever it is. We've got to get them into arms," Hidalgo said. "Normally, when we have the benefit of time and planning we prioritize the older population, we make specific arrangements for vulnerable populations. But in this situation, it’s about making sure that those vaccines do not go to waste."

Officials later heard back from Moderna, which gave guidance on returning the vaccines to storage facilities.

A medical staff member prepares to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the United Memorial Medical Center on Dec. 21, 2020, in Houston.


Hidalgo called county officials' rush to distribute the vaccines during the storm a "miraculous effort."

"Everybody was in a mass scramble," she said. "Luckily, not a single dose was lost, not a single vial was wasted."

COVID-19 testing and vaccination appointments on Tuesday were similarly postponed in Austin, which continues to grapple with freezing rain. Austin Public Health officials did not respond to a request for comment, but on Monday said the vaccines in storage would not be affected by the power outages, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

But the statewide delay caused by the weather further hampers Texas's mass vaccination effort, which many residents are already frustrated with. The rollout was first hobbled by data issues that did not reflect actual vaccination rates, and as eligibility expanded, many elderly people found themselves ill-equipped to schedule appointments online.

Treacherously cold temperatures are expected to last until Friday in some parts of the state, but Van Deusen said the next shipment of vaccines was expected on Wednesday at the earliest.

Hidalgo said the biggest downside regarding the vaccines is that the storm will have delayed vaccine distribution by at least two days.

"That’s unfortunate," she said. "That’s time that we would have been distributing them."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×