Texas: More than 6 million vaccine doses delivered

The Texas Department of State Health Services announced in a press briefing Thursday morning that one in six Texans 16 years and older have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Our providers have really bounced back since the weather cleared and vaccine has started to arrive again,” Associate Commissioner Imelda Garcis said. “Since we last spoke, we’ve passed two milestones — 5 million and 6 million doses administered — for a total of 6.1 million doses administered across the state.”

She said around 3.9 million people have gotten at least one dose, and 2.1 million are fully vaccinated.

More than 200,000 vaccines were administered by providers in the last three days alone.

“I’m also very pleased with the progress we continue to see in vaccinating our community 65 years and older,” Garcia said. “We’re closing in on half of that critical population, with 46% of people 65 years and older getting at least their first dose. More than a quarter of all seniors are fully vaccinated.”

DSHS is expecting to receive quite a haul in doses next week, with over one million first doses on the way.

“That’s more than 900,000 doses allocated by the state to our enrolled providers and the federally supported sites in Houston and North Texas,” she said. “Those doses will go to more than 1,600 individual providers, and that’s hundreds more than what we’ve been able to provide in a single week.”

In other news, the first few shipments of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was recently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, arrived in Texas on Wednesday.

More than 220,000 doses of the J&J vaccine will be allocated next week.

“This is a big step in us boosting the ongoing supply, but it is a little uncertain right now what the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will look like the week after next,” Garcia said. “We are currently awaiting more information from our federal partners.”