Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that more than 2 million first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been sent to providers across Texas over the last month.
“Never before in the history of this state has Texas vaccinated so many people so quickly,” Abbott said.
Still, most Texans aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine. The state is first vaccinating health care workers and the elderly, and then those with pre-existing conditions that make them more likely to have severe cases of COVID-19.
Abbott spoke at the Arlington Expo Center, where he met people waiting to be vaccinated and provided an update on the state’s COVID-19 immunization process.
The update comes exactly four weeks after the Pfizer vaccine made its debut in North Texas.
Of 1,580,400 doses that have been distributed, more than half have already been administered to Texas residents and about 83,000 of those already administered shots are second doses.
The state has also provided 487,500 for nursing and long-term care facilities, which providers CVS and Walgreens are in charge of distributing, he said. Of those allocated for long-term care facilities, more than 75,000 doses have been administered.
Abbott said the state is moving at a considerably faster pace than the pharmacies, and he urged that CVS and Walgreens accelerate the process to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“There is no reason for that process to be moving as slowly as it is,” he said.
The state expanded its population of eligible people in the last few weeks, adding confusion to the vaccine’s distribution process. Abbott said the state opened the process to phase 1B — which includes people 65 and older and those 16 and older with serious medical conditions — because they are at a higher risk of being hospitalized or dying.
“It should lead to a swifter decline in fatalities as well as a swifter decline in the people being hospitalized because of COVID,” he said.
Abbott didn’t indicate how long it will take to vaccinate those included in the first two phases. But the state has said it could take weeks.
Hundreds of eligible patients were in line to receive the vaccine at the Arlington Expo Center, which has the capacity to vaccinated thousands of people each day, Abbott said. In Dallas County, a similar site in Fair Park debuted Monday to vaccinate as many as 2,000 people per day.
The state has designated 28 agencies as vaccination hubs to streamline the process, state officials said. The 28 hubs will receive a combined 158,825 doses of the vaccine this week, while 38,300 doses will go to other providers across the state, the state said.
Signing up for the vaccines has been made available online and is not limited to residents who reside in those counties that have received vaccines, Abbott said. As of Monday, there have been residents in each of Texas’ 254 counties who have been vaccinated, he said.
Abbott said he plans to expand the distribution of vaccines, but supply is a limitation. Each week this month, the federal government will provide 310,000 first doses and 320,500 second doses. The doses do not include vaccines for long-term care facilities, he said.
In addition to designating vaccine hubs, the state is opening antibody therapeutic administration centers as a treatment option for those who have contracted COVID-19. The centers administer Regeneron, the treatment taken by President Donald Trump after he tested positive for the virus. Centers are now open in Fort Worth and Irving.
