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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is slated to give an update on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine across the state as infections and hospitalizations continue to rise.
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Abbott will speak at 8:45 a.m. from the UPS Distribution Center in Austin. The briefing will be placed in this article, but delays are possible. If there is not a livestream available, check back at a later time.
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd and Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt will also attend the briefing.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 14,805 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 252 more fatalities on Wednesday, signaling a potentially dark winter even with this week’s first deployment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Abbott previously said that he expects an initial round of about 1.4 million doses. Texas has put hospital staff, nursing home workers and paramedics at the top of the list — known as “Phase 1A” — followed by a group that includes outpatient medical employees, pharmacists, funeral home workers and school nurses.
With 9,528 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas, intensive care units in some regions were at or near full capacity, according to the department.
Over the last week, more than one in five coronavirus tests in Texas have come back positive, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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