AUSTIN – Texas has become the first state to administer one million COVID-19 vaccines, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.
The announcement comes Thursday, exactly one month to the day that the first doses of the vaccine arrived on Dec. 14.
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Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services says 1,021,511 doses have been administered as of 11 a.m. and more than two million doses have been allocated.
“Texas is leading the way for our nation once again,” said Abbott. “This is the biggest vaccination effort we have ever undertaken, and it would not be possible without the dedication and tireless efforts of our healthcare workers.”
In Texas, people who fall into the state’s Phase 1A and Phase 1B categories are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including healthcare workers, residents of long-term care facilities, anyone over age 65, and anyone 18-years or older with a chronic medical condition. Chronic medical conditions include cancer, kidney disease, COPD, heart conditions, solid organ transplant recipients, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease and type two diabetes.
“We still have a long road ahead of us, but Texans continue to prove that we are up to this challenge,” Abbott said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists California as having distributed at least one million more vaccines than Texas but California has actually only administered 975,293 of those vaccinations.
Texas has administered 3,599 doses of the vaccine per 100,000 people, which puts it near the middle of a ranking of U.S. state’s administering rates. By comparison, California has administered 2,468 doses of the vaccine per 100,000 people, according to the CDC.
Overall, the CDC reported that more than 30 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed among the U.S. as of Thursday morning.