More Than 4 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine Have Been Given in Texas; Supersites Arrive Next Week – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Nurses, firefighters, doctors, pharmacists and others have worked together to administer more than four million doses of COVID-19 vaccine statewide through Sunday.

According to a tweet from Gov. Greg Abbott, not only has the state surpassed four million doses, the last million doses were given out in just the last eight days.

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Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services show more than 111,000 doses of vaccine are headed to North Texas this week, about one-third of the state's weekly allotment. Winter weather, however, may delay or cancel some vaccine clinics so be sure to check with your provider if you have an appointment to receive the vaccination.

Even more doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be available the following week when FEMA is expected to open vaccine supersites in Arlington and Dallas where federal officials plan to vaccinate more than 10,000 people per day starting Feb. 24.

The vaccines sent to the supersites are on top of the ones already being distributed around the area.

Want to Get on a Vaccine Waitlist?

As the state begins to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines for those in Phase 1A and 1B, county health departments have begun waitlists for those wish to be inoculated.

You can now register to recieve the vaccination in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties. Links are below:

Waitlist Links: Collin - Search Waitlist | Dallas | Denton | Tarrant

You do not need to be a resident of the county to register for a COVID-19 vaccine in that county -- registration is open to anyone in Texas. For those without internet access, Tarrant County is also taking registrations by phone at 817-248-6299. In Dallas County, call the DCHHS vaccine hotline at 1-855-IMMUNE9 (1-855-466-8639). In Denton County, call 940-349-2585.

The vaccine is currently only being administered to those who are part of Phase 1A and 1B, as outlined by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Those in Phase 1A are front-line healthcare workers or residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1B includes those who are over the age of 65, or those over the age of 16 with a chronic medical condition that puts them at risk for severe illness.

The DSHS said Feb. 4 they are continuing to discuss when to expand vaccine availability to group 1C and whether or not that group will include teachers.

Once vaccinated, people are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks after the first shot, but full protection may not happen until a couple of weeks after the second shot. Even when fully vaccinated, it's still possible to become infected by the virus since the vaccine does not offer 100% protection.

The Texas DSHS advises that the vaccine will not be readily available for the general public until late spring or early summer 2021.

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More Than 4 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine Have Been Given in Texas; Supersites Arrive Next Week - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth