FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 29, 2020

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced the following COVID-19 updates on COVID-19 vaccine.

Phase of allocation

• South Carolina is in phase 1a of vaccine distribution.
• The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) released its recommendations on December 20 for phase 1b individuals. South Carolina's Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC) is using this federal guidance to complete phase 1b guidelines in South Carolina, which will be provided as soon as it's finalized, which could be early next week. TheACIP has also recommended development of a phase 1c category, which the VAC will begin to develop in alignment with this federal guidance.

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine

• As of December 29, South Carolina has received a total of 112,125 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine:
  • Week of 12/14: 42,900 doses received  
  • Week of 12/21: 30,225 doses received  
  • Week of 12/28: 39,000 doses received
• A total of 31,511 doses of the vaccine have been administered to phase 1a individuals, with shots continuing to be administered each day.
• South Carolina will continue to receive weekly doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The number of doses the state receives each week is expected to vary and won’t be known for certain until the vaccine shipments are received from the federal government.  
• Those phase 1a individuals who have received their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will require a second shot 21 days later. Their second shot will come from a future allocation of vaccine that's specifically being held by the federal government as the second dose for those individuals, to ensure they receive both required doses.

Moderna vaccine

• On December 28, South Carolina received 84,500 doses of Moderna vaccine that are allocated to the CDC's Long-Term Care Program. This federal program works with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to provide vaccines to states' long-term care facilities. DHEC has a limited role in this federal program, other than dedicating doses of South Carolina's vaccine allotment to the program.
• An update on the doses of vaccine administered to South Carolina long-term care facilities through this federal program will be available soon.

DHEC will continue to provide regular updates on COVID-19 vaccine in South Carolina. A new data element is being developed that will provide vaccine-specific data reporting on the COVID-19 webpage, and this is anticipated to be available on the website at the beginning of January. For current vaccine information, visit scdhec.gov/vaxfacts.

Today's cases and deaths (scdhec.gov/COVID19)

• New confirmed/probable total cases: 2,208/52  Summary click here
• New confirmed/probable total deaths: 22/3  Summary click here

Cumulative totals (scdhec.gov/COVID19)

• Confirmed and probable cases: 277,563/23,039
• Confirmed and probable deaths: 4,804/394
• Tests performed for South Carolinians: 3,606,268

Testing opportunities (scdhec.gov/COVID19testing)

• Testing opportunities available statewide: 313

Percent positive (scdhec.gov/COVID19dashboard)

• 8,139 individual test results reported statewide yesterday (not including antibody tests)
• 27.1% percent positive

Facility reports

• Hospital data (daily): scdhec.gov/COVID19hospitals
• Extended care facility data (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
• Assisted living visitation status (Tuesdays): scdhec.gov/nursinghomedata
• Private, public and charter schools (Tuesdays and Fridays): scdhec.gov/covid19schools

The information above as well as extensive reporting on county-level information, demographics and more is available at scdhec.gov/COVID19. The website is updated between 1 p.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekends. Visit scdhec.gov/COVID19vaccine for the latest vaccine information.

Additional information and resources

• scemd.org
• scdmh.net
• accelerate.sc.gov

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