MIA: Where Have All the Vaccines Gone? CDC Says Only Half of Shots Feds Sent to States Were Used

January has become the deadliest month of the pandemic in the United States, with at least 80,000 deaths from COVID-19 so far, and public health experts worry new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus could make things worse. President Joe Biden has announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, aiming to vaccinate most people in the U.S. by summer, but vaccine distribution continues to be a problem.

The Daily Beast reports that of the 41 million vaccine doses handed out to states, fewer than 22 million have been administered. Meanwhile, many states report running out of vaccines. “States are telling federal officials that millions of doses are lost in the distribution system,” says reporter Erin Banco. “What the Biden team is trying to do now is sort of do an accounting exercise to figure out where these vaccine doses are located.”