Texas To Get 64K Fewer Doses Of Coronavirus Vaccine Next Week

AUSTIN, TX — Texas will receive some 64,000 fewer doses of the coronavirus vaccine next week than originally planned, according to media reports.

Texas received the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday, with four sites receiving 19,500 doses and an additional 19 sites receiving 75,075 doses the next day. Health officials at the time said they endorsed distribution for a second vaccine manufactured by Moderna that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed for emergency use authorization on Thursday, as NBC News and multiple media outlets reported. In all, Texas was allocated 224,250 doses of vaccine to be shipped to 110 providers across the state.

But the state now is poised to receive 64,000 fewer coronavirus vaccines than anticipated next week, as WFAA and other media outlets have reported. According to the news station, Pfizer officials said they have millions of doses available but have not received shipping instructions from the federal government.

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On its website, Pfizer issued a statement "...to address public comments that allege there are issued in the production and distribution of the company's COVID-19 vaccine," officials wrote.

"Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed," officials wrote. "This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. government to the locations specified by them. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses."

The development comes on the same day that Gov. Greg Abbott staged a news conference to update on the statewide vaccine distribution plan centered on the U.S. Postal Service distribution center in Austin. The governor was joined by Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd and Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt.

"It is a historic week in the Lone Star State as the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrive in our communities," Abbott said. "We are swiftly distributing these vaccines to health care workers across the state and will continue to ensure that Texans on the front lines have access to these live-saving immunizations."

Some 95,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were delivered to 23 throughout the state this week, Abbott said, with an additional 129,675 doses expected to be delivered to 87 sites on Thursday — bringing the total number of doses to over 224,000 across 110 providers (hospitals and medical schools) in 34 counties. This number will increase significantly with as more vaccines are produced and with the upcoming distribution of the Moderna vaccine, Abbott said at the news conference.

By month's end, Abbott added, more than a million vaccines will have been distributed to a variety of providers including hospitals, health centers, clinics and other medical practices, pharmacies, freestanding emergency rooms, urgent cares, long-term care facilities, local health departments, state hospitals, state supported living centers, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities.

Additionally, Abbott said, the Texas Department of State Health Services will begin reserving doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week for the federal Long-Term Care Pharmacy Partnership. This program was scheduled to begin the week of Dec. 28, the governor said.