Texas will receive more doses of vaccine than expected this week

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

Texas Department of Health Services officials said the dose increase was due to two factors: a 30% increase in the Modern vaccine being provided by the federal government and a single return of 126,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that the Texas had been forced to book for a federal vaccination program for residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

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

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

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“We know that it is important to vaccinate the most vulnerable people and they should be among the first to get vaccines, especially when supplies are scarce,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The state has received nearly 2.9 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the COVID Screening Project.

Texas providers administered nearly 2.3 million doses of vaccine, according to the state’s health department. More than 1.8 million people received at least one dose and more than 448,000 were fully vaccinated.

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

There have been almost 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 decline, with 11,220 patients reported on Sunday. This fell from a high of 14,218 on January 11.