The Latest: Oklahoma pharmacies to get 11,500 vaccine doses

OKLAHOMA CITY -- About 11,500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be shipped to pharmacies across Oklahoma next week, state health officials said Tuesday.

Deputy state health commissioner Keith Reed said the shipment is part of a plan by President Joe Biden’s administration to distribute 1 million doses to some 6,500 pharmacies nationwide. The pharmacies signed on to the federal distribution program and the state is not involved in allocation.

“We anticipate there’s probably going to be around 75 total pharmacies that will receive some level of vaccine inventory,” Reed said. “They’re going to have limited vaccine ... maybe 100 doses or 200 doses,” for the week.

The health department reported an additional 52 Oklahoma deaths due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and 2,119 coronavirus cases for 3,654 deaths and 394,283 cases since the pandemic began.

Interim Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said virus testing at Oklahoma State University may have also found the first case of a variant of the virus, but that the testing was not performed under standard research protocols.

“Yes, it has been identified, but they are doing further studies now to see ... the extent and if it’s really there,” Frye said. He did not say which variant.

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