Vaccine Use In North Carolina: How Many Shots Have Been Given?

NORTH CAROLINA — As millions of Americans continue waiting for their turn to receive a coronavirus vaccine and distribution has ramped up in much of the country, states continue to differ in how much of their supply has been used so far.

In North Carolina, nearly 2.8 million vaccine doses have been distributed, and almost 2.2 million have been administered, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is updated daily. In the Tar Heel State, nearly 1.4 million people, or about 13.3 percent of the state's population, have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and nearly 44,000 people, or about 7.1 percent of the population, have received both doses, according to the CDC.

The country’s vaccination effort topped 65 million administered doses this week, as approval appears likely soon of a third vaccine for Americans.

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The vaccine developed by drugmaker Johnson & Johnson is about 66 percent effective at preventing moderate-to-severe COVID-19, and about 85 percent effective against the most serious illness, Food and Drug Administration regulators have said, according to an Associated Press report. It is safe and effective, the FDA said.

The J&J vaccine requires only one shot, while the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna already in use require two separate inoculations weeks apart.

Approval for the J&J vaccine could come as early as Friday, but it might not immediately speed up the vaccine numbers.

Only a few million doses are expected to be ready for shipping in the first week, the AP reported. But officials for the drugmaker have told Congress they expect 20 million doses to be distributed by the end of March and 100 million by summer.

As of Wednesday, 82.1 million vaccine doses had been distributed in the country, with 44.5 million people receiving at least one dose. More than 19.8 million have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, which accounts for about 6 percent of the U.S. population.

Only Alaska has administered more than 30,000 doses per 100,000 residents as of Wednesday, according to a CDC a map detailing vaccine totals by state.

Nationally, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been given about 33.3 million times and the Moderna vaccine about 31.5 million times.

The CDC has not yet released county-level data on vaccinations.

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