| Severe winter weather is bad enough in any year, but in the middle of the biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history it's a logistical nightmare. Before a blast of winter storms hit a large swath of the nation last month, the U.S. had been administering a seven-day average of at least 1.6 million doses a day for 10 straight days. After a rocky start in December, it looked like the nation's massive immunization program was finally on track. But then came record-breaking low temperatures, ice storms, snow and freezing fog across most of the Great Plains states, including the entire state of Texas. The impact on the vaccination campaign rippled outward to states that weren't even affected by the weather, as manufacturing and shipping slowed. Immunization programs were upended in about 1 in 5 states, with Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi and Texas among the worst, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. Starting Feb. 20, the seven-day average dropped to 1.3 million to 1.4 million doses daily for eight days. That's about 2 million doses delayed, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. But now there are signs that the worst is over. Five days ago, the gap began closing as backlogged doses reached states by the middle of last week.  The biggest gains came through this past weekend with a blockbuster three days of peak doses reported—2.2 million doses delivered on Friday and 2.4 million each on Saturday and Sunday. The push drove the seven-day average back to 1.6 million doses per day. On Monday, the CDC reported 1.7 million doses administered. It's another good sign, but it still means a shortfall of about 1.1 million doses that hasn't been made up yet. Even so, the rapid rebound bodes well as a test of how states are able to respond to interruptions. And it suggests they have the capacity to administer more shots than they have in the past. That capacity will be tested in the coming weeks amid an anticipated immunization surge, with the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine added to the mix. The federal government asked shipping partners to work extra shifts last weekend to dispatch extra doses to states, and encouraged them to get needles into arms by extending hours, working weekends and having more staff on hand. Spring may not be in the air yet, but when it comes to vaccinations, the worst of winter may be behind us.—Jill Shah | 
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