Georgia COVID-19 vaccine shipment reduced

ATLANTA - It'll take longer for Georgia to get its covid-19 vaccines. The state has been told its shipment next week from Pfizer is being reduced by 40%.

Originally Georgia expected to get a shipment of 99,000 doses, but that has been cut down to 60,000. This week Georgia got its first shipment from Pfizer of 84,000 doses.

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Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed the reduction while watching the first COVID-19 vaccination in Atlanta. He asked for the public's patience when dealing with what he called hick-ups in the vaccine distribution process.

Georgia isn't alone. States all over the country are seeing their shipments reduced.  It's not really clear why.

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Pfizer says it's not having any production issues and that it has millions of doses sitting in its warehouse waiting for shipping instructions from the Federal Government.

Federal officials downplay the issue, saying the initial number of doses to be sent to the States were estimates and not allocations. They also say the shipments are being spacing out to ease the distribution process.

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Georgia is also hoping to get 174,000 of the Moderna vaccine next week, assuming it is able to get authorization from both the F.D.A. and C.D.C.

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