The U.S. drop in demand is leading some states to turn down vaccine shipments.
Louisiana has stopped asking the federal government for its full allotment of COVID-19 vaccine. In Mississippi, officials asked the federal government to ship vials in smaller packages so they don’t go to waste. About half of Iowa’s counties have stopped asking for new doses from the state.
And even as Kansas remains far from reaching the coveted public health standard of herd immunity against COVID-19 – essentially starving off the virus because it runs out of vulnerable bodies – more than 60 counties turned down their weekly allotment of vaccine doses.