Dose shortages undermine push by U.S. states to speed COVID-19 vaccinations

FILE PHOTO: Public service workers help people to check in at a drive-through COVID-19 vaccination site in Robstown, Texas, U.S. February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo

(Reuters) - When the U.S. government began shipping COVID-19 vaccines in December, state health providers could not administer shots fast enough to keep pace with deliveries and millions of doses sat waiting for arms.

Two months later, the situation has reversed. Supply constraints are slowing ambitious vaccination programs, as massive sites capable of putting shots into thousands of arms daily in states including New York, California, Florida and Texas, as well as hospitals and pharmacies, beg for more doses.