The outbreak in Texas

This week’s COVID-19 digest

Vaccines are having a roller coaster of a week: New trials are starting in Houston, the Biden administration is supporting a waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccine formulas and Pfizer announced plans to apply for full federal approval of its vaccine.

More than 500,000 Texans are skipping their second doses, the state reports. Some may have forgone their second dose because of studies showing both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19; others may have a hard time getting back to their first dose site. Inconsistent messaging might also be to blame, experts speculate.

Pfizer launched its pediatric trial at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital. The first toddler enrolled in the study, 16-month-old Nathan Galvan, is testing how much of a dose children should receive to produce antibodies against the vaccine without having serious side effects. If the clinical trials go well, the drug could be approved for use as soon as the end of the year.

More than 11.3 million people now have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is 50.6 percent of the population 16 and older. More than 8.4 million Texans are now fully vaccinated, which is 37.8 percent of the population.

In Bexar County, 798,499 people have received at least one vaccine dose. More than 600,000 people are now fully vaccinated, and more than 1.3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the county.

Texas reported 18,277 new COVID cases, the third straight week with a decline. There were 310 newly reported deaths in Texas, the 10th straight week with a decline.

Hospitalizations remain low, and there are 2,568 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 statewide.

There have been fewer than 3,000 patients in Texas hospitals for more than five weeks at this point.

The positive test rate has remained below 5 percent the whole week and is currently at 4.71 percent.