NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - State health officials say 2,711 COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered in the initial days of their availability in Tennessee, now the worst state in the country for new cases per capita.
The Tennessee Department of Health on Friday unveiled its online vaccination dashboard, which will be updated on Tuesdays and Fridays. It can be accessed at https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/covid-19-vaccine-information.html.
Tennessee frontline hospital health care workers on Thursday began receiving the Pfizer vaccine. Tennessee estimates it has received more than 67,000 doses, including up to 11,000 extra ones because the vials may contain enough for one or two more doses than expected.
Over the next two weeks, Tennessee expects to receive 115,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which do not require ultracold storage that the Pfizer ones need. The state says the Moderna vaccines will be shipped to all 95 Tennessee county health departments, with smaller hospitals that are not receiving the Pfizer vaccine expected to receive them the week of Dec. 28.
Priority groups for the Moderna doses include frontline hospital health care workers, first responders, long-term care facility residents and staff, home health providers and student health providers, the state said.
The vaccines arrive at Tennessee's darkest time during the pandemic.
According to researchers at Johns Hopkins, there were 1,640 new cases per 100,000 people in Tennessee over the past two weeks, which ranks first in the country for new cases per capita. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths has risen in Tennessee from 50 on Dec. 4 to 74 on Friday.
The surge has drawn a repeat recommendation from the White House for Tennessee to implement a statewide mask requirement, which Republican Gov. Bill Lee has declined to put in place in favor of letting counties decide whether to require them within their own borders. He has stressed mask-wearing is a matter of personal responsibility. Only a dozen other states lack a statewide mask requirement.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University, meanwhile, have found higher rates of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in the areas that didn't require masks. Doctors in a Tennessee physicians group that has been calling for the statewide mask requirement for months say their facilities and staffs are now more overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients than ever during the pandemic. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a surgeon and Tennessee Republican, has become a prominent voice in the push for a statewide mask mandate.
"Virus levels remain high and continue to increase, with new hospital admissions at all-time high," the Dec. 13 White House report states. "Face masks must be required in all public settings statewide to reduce transmission across the state."
The White House offered grim expectations for those in the virus-riddled state.
"All public health officials must make it clear that if you are over 65 or with significant health conditions, you should not enter any indoor public spaces where anyone is unmasked due to the immediate risk to your health; you should have groceries and medications delivered," the report recommends. "If you are under 40, you need to assume you became infected if you gathered beyond your immediate household."
The state's new vaccine dashboard plans to include data on vaccinations reported in total, in the last day and within the last week. It will display the percentage of each county that has been vaccinated. Future versions will also provide data on Tennesseans who have also received their second doses for full vaccination.