Austin Public Health has announced a significant milestone in the ongoing effort to bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Monday, May 17, officials say Austin Public Health and Travis County have combined to administer more than 400,000 total vaccine doses.
“I want to thank our staff and volunteers for their dedication to this community,” Interim APH Director Adrienne Sturrup said. “Not only have we been able to come together to reach a remarkable goal for vaccinations, but we have worked for many months in the COVID-19 emergency response to protect our friends, family and neighbors from the severe impacts of the virus.”
311,000 first and second doses have been given through Austin Public Health alone.
“It is through the hard work and dedication of our health professionals and community coming together that we can celebrate yet another milestone in vaccinations,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “In a few months, we have administered at least one vaccine dose to 60% of our residents and are closer to reaching herd immunity. We must continue to help our neighbors and students get a vaccine.”
With estimates for reaching herd immunity through vaccination ranging from approximately 70% to 90% of the population being fully vaccinated, the county-wide milestone bears significance.
“When we account for the entire Travis County population, we have achieved another important goal of having over 50% of people partially or fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “At a time when we are seeing increasing hospitalization of children, we not only need adults to be vaccinated, but also our middle school and high school students.”
