COVID-19 vaccine distribution expected to increase in Texas, governor says
More than 843,000 coronavirus vaccine doses are headed to Texas this week, the largest supply to date, Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday.
Abbott was at at Houston Methodist Hospital, where he held a round table with health care professionals before giving an update on vaccine distribution in the state. Texas is receiving 333,650 first doses of the vaccine and 500,400 second doses, Abbott said.
State data shows 29,525 allotted for Tarrant County this week. Of the 188,475 doses shipped to Tarrant County, roughly 68,700 have been administered, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“There’s only one limitation we have at this moment in time, and that is an inadequate supply of vaccinations, and that supply of vaccinations comes only from the federal government,” Abbott said, noting that the state is sent new supplies of vaccinations each week and that increases are expected.
As of Tuesday, 1.7 million doses of the vaccine had been shipped to Texas providers, 1.4 million of which have been administered, Abbott said.
Additionally, 487,500 doses have been set aside for shots administered by CVS and Walgreens at nursing homes and long-term care centers. Abbott said 124,827 have been administered and urged the pharmacy chains to “pick up their pace.”
Vaccination efforts remain focused on health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, those 65 and older and people with medical conditions putting them at an increased risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press,” said the potential approval of vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson is “weeks away, not months away.”
“Receiving those additional vaccines would would massively increase the supplies that we have in Houston and across the entire state of Texas, and being able to vaccinate far more people, far more rapidly,” Abbott said.
Abbott touted the use of hubs across the state for large-scale vaccination distribution to help accelerate vaccinations.. The number of hubs in the state has increased from 28 last week to 77. The governor was in Arlington on Jan. 11 to visit one of the sites at Esports Stadium Arlington.
He said the Houston Methodist Hospital site visited Tuesday is the “number one” vaccine administrator in Texas.
“It (the hubs) allows communities to have several locations capable of vaccinating thousands of people at each of those locations,” Abbott said.
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 3:44 PM.
