Healthcare workers coronavirus family
Romelia Navarro, right, is comforted by nurse Michele Younkin as she weeps while sitting at the bedside of her dying husband, Antonio, in St. Jude Medical Center's COVID-19 unit in Fullerton, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2020. Antonio was Younkin's first COVID-19 patient to pass on her watch.
Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
  • The US is still a long way away from getting every high-risk healthcare worker vaccinated against COVID-19.
  • The country has a total of 16,926,288 high-risk workers in healthcare facilities, according to a database launched in part by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
  • The US shipped states 2.9 million Pfizer doses on Monday. Vaccines developed by both Pfizer and Moderna require two doses.
  • Here’s how many vaccine doses each state needs to inoculate every high-risk healthcare worker.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Vaccinating every US high-risk healthcare worker against COVID-19 will be no small feat.

Days after the US Food and Drug Administration allowed for emergency authorized use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, healthcare workers across the country began getting shots.

Healthcare workers are three times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than the public, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and King’s College London. At least 1,445 healthcare workers have died in the US from COVID-19, per The Guardian

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents get first access to vaccines.

Read more: Meet the 19 key scientists, executives, and leaders responsible for pushing coronavirus vaccines across the finish line

The country has a total of 16,926,288 high-risk workers in healthcare facilities, according to a database launched by Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and The Surgo Foundation. The database uses 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate high-risk healthcare worker populations in hospitals, doctor's offices, outpatient centers, pharmacies, nursing homes, and other health settings.

Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine require two doses taken three weeks and four weeks apart, respectively. That means 33,852,576 total doses are needed to vaccinate more than 16.9 million healthcare workers.

The initial shipment comprised of 2.9 million Pfizer doses distributed across the country. States should receive second shipments - 636 total, each containing 1,000 doses - by Wednesday. "It is a constant flow of available vaccines," Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer for Warp Speed, told reporters Monday.

An independent advisory committee will vote on whether to recommend the FDA green light Moderna's vaccine on December 17. Sources close to the FDA told The New York Times the agency will likely allow emergency use authorization on Moderna's vaccine on Friday. The US will ship nearly 6 million Moderna vaccines upon the FDA's decision.

Here's how many doses of the vaccine every state needs to inoculate every high-risk healthcare worker

 

Alabama

472,398 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 236,199 healthcare workers

Alaska

67,350 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 33,675 healthcare workers

Arizona

70,7976 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 353,988 healthcare workers

Arkansas

280,920 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 140,460 healthcare workers

California

3,439,696 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 1,719,848 healthcare workers

Colorado

500,122 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 250,061 healthcare workers

Connecticut

429,604 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 214,802 healthcare workers

Delaware

108,678 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 54,339 healthcare workers

Florida

2,136,874 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 1,068,437 healthcare workers

Georgia

940,910 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 470,455 healthcare workers

Hawaii

129,242 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 64,621 healthcare workers

Idaho

162,838 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 81,419 healthcare workers

Illinois

1,309,196 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 654,598 healthcare workers

Indiana

696,040 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 348,020 healthcare workers

Iowa

311,698 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 155,849 healthcare workers

Kansas

261,080 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 130,540 healthcare workers

Kentucky

422,304 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 211,152 healthcare workers

Louisiana

519,258 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 259,629 healthcare workers

Maine

159,570 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 79,785 healthcare workers

Maryland

641,858 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 320,929 healthcare workers

Massachusetts

1,025,990 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 512,995 healthcare workers

Michigan

1,044,082 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 522,041 healthcare workers

Minnesota

692,718 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 346,359 healthcare workers

Mississippi

243,854 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 121,927 healthcare workers

Missouri

690,028 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 345,014 healthcare workers

Montana

99,818 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 49,909 healthcare workers

Nebraska

207,894 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 103,947 healthcare workers

Nevada

238,372 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 119,186 healthcare workers

New Hampshire

153,218 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 76,609 healthcare workers

New Jersey

978,164 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 489,082 healthcare workers

New Mexico

199,486 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 99,743 healthcare workers

New York

2,744,702 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 1,372,351 healthcare workers

North Carolina

972,202 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 486,101 healthcare workers

North Dakota

89,934 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 44,967 healthcare workers

Ohio

1,446,794 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 723,397 healthcare workers

Oklahoma

375,558 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 187,779 healthcare workers

Oregon

397,214 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 198,607 healthcare workers

Pennsylvania

1,636,440 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 818,220 healthcare workers

Rhode Island

139,870 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 69,935 healthcare workers

South Carolina

461,938 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 230,969 healthcare workers

South Dakota

108,272 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 54,136 healthcare workers

Tennessee

729,142 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 364,571 healthcare workers

Texas

2,805,296 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 1,402,648 healthcare workers

Utah

260,628 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 130,314 healthcare workers

Vermont

62,240 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 31,120 healthcare workers

Virginia

776,454 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 388,227 healthcare workers

Washington

706,988 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 353,494 healthcare workers

West Virginia

201,766 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 100,883 healthcare workers

Wisconsin

622,190 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 311,095 healthcare workers

Wyoming

43,712 Pfizer or Moderna shots are needed for 21,856 healthcare workers

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