The Houston area will receive the influx of COVID-19 vaccine doses this week

The Greater Houston area is expected to receive an influx of more than 62,000 COVID-19 vaccines this week, driven by an increase in the number of vaccines supplied to the state by the federal government and large allocations to suppliers in the Houston area. state officials announced Friday.

“The increase in the available vaccine is due to two factors: a 30 percent increase in the number of Modern doses that the federal government provides to the state and a single return of 126,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to which Texas was bound to be reserved for the federal pharmaceutical association program for long-term care, “state health officials said in a statement. “The program overestimated the amount of vaccine needed, so doses are returned to the states.”

The Texas State Department of Health Services said it allocates doses of the long-term care program to providers in counties where allocations “have been significantly lower than their population share, particularly in suburban areas. of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. ”

Announcements

In total, Texas will receive 520,425 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government during the week of February. More than 62,000 of these doses will be given to suppliers in the Greater Houston area, including Harris, Fort Bend, Liberty. , Montgomery, Chambers and Galveston Counties. The Harris County Department of Public Health and the City of Houston Department of Public Health plan to receive 9,000 vaccines each.

In addition to the first doses, the state ordered 188,225 doses intended to be the second dose for people first vaccinated a few weeks ago.

Currently, jeans can only be vaccinated if they are front-line health workers, residents of nursing homes, over the age of 65, or have a medical condition that puts them at increased risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

“The vaccine remains limited based on the ability of manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for all people in priority populations who want to be vaccinated,” officials said. state health officials in a statement. “Currently, there is not enough vaccine to supply vaccine to all providers every week.”

Announcements

Since Friday, Texas providers have administered nearly 2.2 million doses of the vaccine. More than 1.75 million people have received at least one dose and more than 410,000 have received both doses.