The Texas Department of Health announced that 224,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would be shipped to 109 hospitals in 34 counties in the first week of December 14th.
DSHS has set allocation plans for this week that prioritize the frontline health care workers. The highest number of doses per site is 5,850 for hospitals like the Methodist Dallas Medical Center and Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in Houston among other major health centers.
Because the Pfizer vaccine can only be ordered in quantities of 975, many Texas rural hospitals were not included in the allocation plans for the first week.
Nationwide, Texas ranks second after California in terms of total cases and second with the highest total number of COVID deaths after New York City.
These alarming numbers show the urgent need for vaccines, but also the need to focus on established preventive measures. Recent projections from the Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment show that social distancing measures have decreased by 26% since the pandemic began. Based on vaccine announcements, social distancing is estimated at 31% by April 2021.
Until vaccines become widely available, which will not be the case for some time, experts still recommend continuing the best preventive measures like using masks and social distancing to keep things safe.
