Over 1 million doses administered and counting: initial CDC data on COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash.
Over 1 million doses administered and counting: initial CDC Data on COVID-19 vaccine distribution
by CRAIG HELMSTETTER | Dec. 23, 2020
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has begun to track the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. So far the CDC is releasing only two data points: the number of doses distributed and number of doses administered, or given to individuals.
The CDC is reporting the following data, updated through Dec. 23, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time:
9,465,725 doses distributed.
1,008,025 doses administered.
Note that these numbers include both the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and the vaccine produced by Moderna.
Assuming that these reports apply to the 50 U.S. states (and not U.S. territories that are included in some CDC reports) this is equivalent to 1 dose distributed for every 35 Americans, and 1 dose administered for every 326 Americans.
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Vaccine distribution appears to be ramping up very rapidly. Just two days ago the CDC reported less than half of the number of vaccine doses distributed than the 9.5 million reported today. Similarly the CDC is now reporting 65% more doses administered than reported two days ago.
To place vaccination distribution in some context we have graphed these figures alongside of the cumulative total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., as well as the cumulative total number of COVID-19-related deaths, as reported by the CDC. Notably, only 10 days after the first COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. was given to intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay, the number of administered doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is already more than triple the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths.
The CDC is working with states to prioritize vaccination, starting with health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, followed by frontline essential workers and people aged 75 years and older.
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-Craig (On Twitter: @c_helmstetter)