FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 22, 2020
COLUMBIA, SC – The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control today provided the following update on the COVID-19 vaccine:
- From December 14 to 16, South Carolina received its first allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine: a total of 42,900 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were received by direct shipments from the federal government. Earlier this afternoon, 19,644 doses of the vaccine were administered to individuals in phase 1a, with injections continuing to be administered each day.
- This week, South Carolina is getting its second round of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Fifteen health facilities are receiving 30,225 combined doses of the vaccine to continue administering to phase 1a individuals.
- The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) released its recommendations on December 20 to individuals in phase 1b. The South Carolina Vaccine Advisory Committee is using this federal guidance to complete the phase 1b guidelines in South Carolina, which will be provided as soon as they are finalized.
- Phase 1a individuals who received their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will need a second injection 21 days later. The second injection will come from a future vaccine distribution that is being specifically maintained by the federal government as the second dose for these individuals, to ensure that they receive the two necessary doses.
- Any and all Modern vaccines made available to South Carolina will be allocated to the CDC’s Long Term Care Program. This federal program works with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to provide vaccines to a state’s long-term care facility. DHEC has a limited role in this federal program, in addition to dedicating doses of the South Carolina vaccine to the program.
- CVS and Walgreens are expected to begin vaccinating long-term care facilities in South Carolina with the Modern vaccine from the week of December 28. DHEC has been informed that qualified nursing facilities will be the first type of long-term care facilities vaccinated by this federal government program. Dr. Brannon Traxler, Acting Director of Public Health, provided additional information about this federal long-term care facility program during a media update on Friday.
- We continue to expect South Carolina to receive between 200,000-300,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, both from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, by the end of the year, however, this estimate is subject to change.
DHEC will continue to provide regular updates on the COVID-19 vaccine in South Carolina. A new data element is being developed to provide reports of vaccine-specific data on the COVID-19 page, and is expected to be available on the website at early January. For current vaccine information, visit scdhec.gov/vaxfacts.
South Carolina Daily COVID-19 update (December 22, 2020)
DHEC today announced the following updates for COVID-19. As a reminder, DHEC will not report daily COVID-19 numbers on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. The data that would be reported on December 25th and January 1st will be available online the next day.
We encourage all Southern Carolians to safely celebrate this holiday season and to remember the importance of mental and emotional health. It is important to take breaks to watch, read or listen to news and social media and take time to relax. DHEC and the South Carolina Department of Mental Health provide several resources to deal with the prolonged stress of this public health crisis.
Today’s cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)
- Confirmed and probable cases: 257.340 / 20.715
- Confirmed and probable deaths: 4,602 / 374
- Tests performed for Southern Carolinians: 3,370,118
Test opportunities (scdhec.gov/findatest)
- Test opportunities available across the state: 321
Positive percentage (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)
- 11,356 new individual test results reported across the state (not including antibody tests)
- 18.1% positive percent
Installation reports
The information above, as well as comprehensive reports on county-level information, demographics and more, are available at scdhec.gov/COVID19. The site is updated between 1 pm and 3 pm on weekdays and 11 am to 1 pm on weekends. Visit scdhec.gov/COVID19vaccine for the latest vaccine information.
Additional information and resources
###