U.S. reaches millionth COVID vaccine, Mass. hits 35K
Photo | Grant Welker
UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center share a campus off Belmont and Plantation streets in Worcester.
In roughly a week and a half, the United States has reached 1 million COVID-19 vaccines and Massachusetts more than 35,000.
The milestone has heralded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a time when coronavirus cases nationally remain at an all-time high, with new daily cases regularly topping 200,000 for weeks on end.
The country has recorded more than 18 million cases and nearly 328,000 deaths so far, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
In Massachusetts, vaccinations have hit nearly 35,000, according to the state Department of Public Health. More than 146,000 vaccine doses have been shipped to Massachusetts hospitals, including nearly 16,000 in Worcester County.
Vaccines have also begun rolling out quickly in Worcester, with 2,300 vaccinations taking place at UMass Memorial Health Care in 10 days, according to Dr. Michael Hirsh, the medical director of the Worcester Division of Public Health and a doctor at UMass Memorial. Another 1,100 are scheduled for next week, he said, and vaccines have also been taking place smoothly at Saint Vincent Hospital.
A combined 1,184 employees between UMass Memorial and Saint Vincent have tested positive, including 100 in the past week, Hirsh said.
Vaccinations of residents at long-term care facilities are due to begin Monday across Massachusetts. Residents at such facilities have accounted for 7,191 deaths, or roughly three out of five confirmed and suspected deaths, across Massachusetts. Nearly 30,000 residents or workers at such facilities have tested positive, or about 9% of the state's total.
Each person requires two vaccines given three weeks apart. CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement that the vaccine supply will remain limited but will increase in the coming weeks and months. He urged everyone to continue wearing a mask and public and taking other health precautions until everyone in the country is able to get a vaccine.
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