Texas will get more doses of vaccine than expected this week

HOUSTON – Texas is expected to receive more than 520,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week, more than state officials said they had initially planned to receive

Texas State Department of Health officials said the dose increase was due to two factors: a 30% increase in the Modern vaccine provided by the federal government and the single refund of 126,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that Texas had been should be reserved for a federal program that vaccinates residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

The health department said these returned doses will be given to counties where allocations have been significantly lower than their population share, particularly in the suburban areas of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

The Houston Department of Health has said this week it will focus its allocation of vaccines on people most at risk for serious illness and those in vulnerable communities.

Announcements

“We know it’s important to vaccinate the most vulnerable people and they should be among the first to receive shots, especially when supply is scarce,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.

According to the COVID Monitoring Project, the state has received about 2.9 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Texas providers have administered about 2.3 million doses of vaccine, according to the state Department of Health. More than 1.8 million people have received at least one dose and more than 448,000 have been completely vaccinated.

On Sunday, Texas health officials reported 11,155 new and probable coronavirus cases and 171 more deaths from the disease caused by the virus.

There have been about 2.1 million cases of viruses and 36,491 deaths as a result of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to the Texas Department of Health.

Hospitalizations in the state continued to fall, with 11,220 patients registered on Sunday. This is down from the 14,218 highs of January 11th.