California Vaccine Use: How Many Shots Have Been Given?

CALIFORNIA — As millions of Americans wait for their turn to receive a coronavirus vaccine and the nation’s leaders vow to ramp up distribution, states have differed in how much of their supply has been used so far.

In California, 57 million vaccine doses have been distributed, and 35 million had been administered as of Friday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is updated daily before 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Nearly 28 million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 7 million people have received both doses in the Golden State, according to the CDC.

That’s 16,294 per every 100,000 California residents — roughly 16 in 100 people. All four metrics have per 100,000 numbers.

The country’s vaccination effort topped 50 million administered doses this week, as the Biden administration has said it will begin delivering vaccines directly to the nation’s most well-known pharmacy retailers. Beginning Feb. 11, the White House will deliver 1 million doses of vaccine per week to 6,500 retailers such as CVS and Walgreens, according to reports from Politico and others.

The increased vaccine distribution will be focused on areas that need it the most, said Jeff Zients, the head of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus team. Pharmacy sites have been selected based on their abilities “to reach some of the populations at risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” Zients said.

“This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities,” he added. “This is a critical step to provide the public with convenient, trusted places to get vaccinated in their communities."

The vaccines sent to pharmacies will be in addition to the roughly 10.5 million doses sent to the states every week, according to reports. The 10.5 million is up by about 500,000 from previous weeks, The Associated Press has reported.

As of Friday, 57 million vaccine doses had been distributed in the country, with 35 million people receiving at least one dose. About 28 million have taken the first dose, and nearly 7 million have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

Only eight states and the District of Columbia have administered more than 11,000 doses per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, the CDC said. North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Connecticut, West Virginia, New Mexico and Oklahoma are the states joining D.C. in reaching that threshold.

Nationally, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been given about 18.2 million times and the Moderna vaccine about 15.5 million times.

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

As of Thursday, the California counties with the most COVID-19 cases include:

1. Los Angeles: 1.1 million cases
2. San Bernardino: 271,000 cases
3. Riverside: 269,000 cases
4. San Diego: 241,000 cases
5. Orange: 235,000 cases
6. Santa Clara: 103,000 cases
7. Fresno: 90,000 cases
8. Sacramento: 87,000 cases
9. Kern: 87,000 cases
10. Alameda: 75,000 cases
11. Ventura: 72,000 cases
12. San Joaquin: 62,000 cases
13. Contra Costa: 58,000 cases
14. Stanislaus: 47,000 cases
15. Tulare: 45,000 cases