Texas has administered over 15.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines so far with more than 6.1 million Texans fully vaccinated according to the latest numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
DSHS Associate Commissioner Imelda Garcia opened the weekly COVID-19 update addressing the CDC pause on the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Garcia says it was recommended following reports of blood clots in six individuals, not located in Texas, 6 to 13 days after receiving the J&J vaccine. “From where we are at this point it appears to be an extremely rare event,” said Garcia. “This shows that the vaccine safety system is working. These rare events were recorded and recognized as a possible issue that needed to be evaluated so that people can have confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Garcia doesn’t expect the J&J pause to effect the current brisk pace of vaccinations next week. “Even without the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for now, we’re allocating more than 700,000 first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna to providers all across the state next week,” said Garcia. Adding this to the federal doses being sent to pharmacies and mass-vaccination sites the total should come in at over one million doses.
With more than 2 million doses being administered in Texas last week, Garcia doesn’t see any vaccine hesitancy, despite reports that some providers have had doses left over. “Over the past three weeks we continue to see increased doses administered to our immunization registry,” said Garcia. “So that signals that the demand out there is still great.”
