El Paso to get its largest virus vaccine shipment yet from state
EL PASO, Texas — El Paso's two Covid-19 vaccine hubs are getting a combined 17,850 first doses next week — the largest shipment yet.
The City of El Paso's larger allotment amounts to roughly 12,000 vaccine doses, double the amount it usually gets each week. Meantime, University Medical Center will be getting about 6,000 doses.
The additional doses are being distributed to the El Paso sites by the Texas health department, which says it is receiving a total of 2.5 million doses for next week.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says more than 1 million first doses will be sent to vaccination sites in 200 counties, including the allotment to the two hubs here in El Paso.
About 900,000 first and second doses will go to pharmacies and to health and dialysis centers, state officials say. The remaining doses are for people awaiting a second dose. All Texans 16 and older are now eligible to receive the vaccine.
The state health department says Texas has administered more than 11.8 million doses of the vaccine to date. As of Saturday, a total of 412,370 vaccine doses had been allocated to providers in El Paso, out of which 407,925 had been administered.
The Center for Disease Control reports 27% of the state’s population has received at least one dose. That ranks ninth worst in the nation. Alabama has the lowest one-shot vaccination rate at 24.7% and New Mexico has the best at 39.5%.
Click here for ABC-7's guide to everything you need to know about how to get a vaccine in El Paso.
