Texas to receive record 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for next week
State today reports record 360,000 new doses administered
More than 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week. The Texas Department of State Health Services is allocating 1,094,920 first doses to 2,011 providers in 200 counties, the largest number of doses and providers to date. DSHS is ordering 626,290 second doses for people vaccinated a few weeks ago. An estimated 900,000 additional first and second doses are expected to be available to pharmacy locations, federally-qualified health centers and dialysis centers as allocated directly by the federal government.
Texas has now administered more than 11.8 million doses, an increase of 1.8 million in the last week, and 360,000 more than was reported yesterday. Nearly 7.8 million people have received at least one dose, and more than 4.3 million are now fully vaccinated. Among Texas seniors, more than two-thirds have received at least one dose, and nearly half are now fully vaccinated. More than one-third of all Texans at least 16 years old have gotten a shot and nearly one in five are fully vaccinated.
As of this week, all Texans ages 16 and older are eligible to receive a vaccine. DSHS also launched the Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler which allows people to register for a vaccine appointment from a participating public health entity such as DSHS and some local health departments. Already, more than 125,000 people have registered.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today updated its travel guidance for people who are fully vaccinated, saying that they can safely travel within the United States and no longer need to get tested or quarantine before or after travel, unless their destination requires it. People who are not yet vaccinated should continue to stay home and quarantine for seven days after travel and get tested three to five days after returning.
Vaccination has helped drive down the number of new cases and people hospitalized with COVID-19 to their lowest level since June. However, with hundreds of variant cases identified in Texas that have the potential to spread more quickly and cause more serious disease, vaccination remains critically important. The available vaccines have proven effective against the variant strains, so the more people vaccinated, the easier it will be to keep the variants under control and prevent new ones from emerging.
People can find more information on the COVID-19 vaccine.
Helpful links:
- Weekly vaccine allocations, including the full list for the week of April 5
- Vaccination hub providers with contact information
- DSHS/TDEM map of vaccine providers
- Texas Vaccine Data
- Texas COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Wasted Report
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(News Media Contact: pressofficer@dshs.texas.gov)