HOUSTON (AP) – A giant vaccination center opens in Houston to administer 126,000 doses of coronavirus in the next three weeks. Nevada health officials work overtime to distribute delayed shots. And Rhode Island is rescheduling appointments after the vaccine shipment didn’t arrive, as planned earlier in the week.
From coast to coast, states mingled on Tuesday to catch up on vaccinations a week after winter storms hit much of the United States and led to the closure of clinics, the cancellation of appointments and nationwide shipping delays.
But the limited supply of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines hampered the pace of vaccinations even before the extreme weather delayed the delivery of about 6 million doses.
The White House promised Tuesday that aid is on its way.
States can expect about 14.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine this week, a nearly 70 percent increase in distribution over the past month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. And White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients told governors Tuesday that the number of doses sent directly to pharmacies will increase by about 100,000 this week, Psaki said.
Intensified efforts occur as the number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. exceeded 500,000, far more than any other country.
More than 44 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Modern vaccine and about 1.4 million a day have received a first or second dose in the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. .
Although the daily average of cases and deaths has declined, some experts say not enough Americans have been inoculated for the vaccine to be the reason. The decline is attributed, however, to the passage of the holidays, more people staying indoors during the winter and better adherence to mask rules and social distancing.
In addition, they warn that dangerous variants can cause the trend to reverse. States are responding while trying to recover from last week’s break and prepare to vaccinate more people in the coming weeks.
The federally funded Houston vaccination site will open Wednesday in NRG Park, operating seven days a week for three weeks to distribute 126,000 first doses, before moving on to second doses, officials said.
Jeans are recovering from a devastating winter storm that killed at least 35 people, left millions without water and electricity and delayed vaccinations.
“It’s been trauma after trauma, and people deserve good news, some hope,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top elected official.
In Buda, Texas, retired professors Donna and Gerald Haschke, both 74, were due to receive their second dose last week, but their appointments were canceled three times due to the storm. They are scheduled to receive doses on Thursday.
The couple is eager to get completely vaccinated after months of having to cut back on all their activities due to the coronavirus. Gerald Haschke has heart stents and Donna Haschke has atrial fibrillation, she said.
“My cardiologists said, ‘You don’t want COVID to be,'” Donna Haschke said. “I said, ‘No, no.’ For me, that was a warning that I needed to stay home. ”
In Mississippi, where COVID-19 vaccines fell last week amid icy temperatures and icy roads, health officials automatically rescheduled appointments and planned to schedule more than normal over the weekend.
The State Department of Health said Monday that last week alone, 32,540 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 106,691 the previous week.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said Monday that 46,000 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine began to arrive in the state and were delayed by time. The head of the state’s Child, Family and Community Welfare Office said officials would work overtime to administer those doses along with the regularly scheduled delivery this week.
President Joe Biden has said that all Americans who want a vaccine will be able to get one by the end of July.
But demand continues to outpace the limited supplies distributed by the U.S. government.
Executives from five companies with contracts to supply firing in the United States (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax) testified over supply issues Tuesday before the Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Looking ahead to the summer, Pfizer and Moderna executives said they expect to complete the delivery of 300 million doses each, and J&J aims to provide an additional 100 million doses, more than enough to vaccinate all American adults.
Arizona will increase vaccinations by opening its fourth statewide mass vaccination clinic, state health department officials said. In addition, transportation costs to and from vaccination appointments will now be covered for people enrolled in the Arizona Medicaid program, Gov. Doug Ducey said.
“This change will make it easier to vaccinate our most vulnerable Arizonans …,” Ducey said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said 11 mobile clinics will open in the vast Central Valley of California, an agricultural region that has been hard hit by the coronavirus. They will be used primarily to vaccinate agricultural workers who do not have transportation to larger vaccination sites or who cannot navigate the state’s online registration portal.
Newsom said the state is also sending an additional 34,000 doses of vaccine to this area from a pharmacy that was not using them fast enough.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s top health official said Tuesday that more than 2,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been destroyed in the past month in Shelby County, which encompasses Memphis, while local officials sat in the tens of thousands. of shots they thought they had already done in their arms.
Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said a Health Department investigation over the weekend found problems dating back Feb. 3 that included damaged doses, an excessive vaccine inventory, insufficient registration and no formal process for manage vaccines that will expire soon. A federal investigation is also expected.
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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press writers Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Kansas; Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee; Mark Pratt in Providence, Rhode Island; Michelle Monroe in Sacramento, California; Michelle Price in Las Vegas; and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.