Minnesota surpasses 1M COVID-19 vaccine doses administered

(FOX 9) - More than one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people in Minnesota, Gov. Walz announced Friday.

Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,016,210 doses have been administered as of Feb. 17. Reporting lags by a few days. A total of 728,081 Minnesotans have received at least the first dose of the two-dose vaccine series and 286,543 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19—roughly 13.1% and 5.2% of the state’s population respectively.

At least 337,829 Minnesota seniors have at least their first dose of the vaccine, which is approximately 39.3% of the state’s age 65 and older population.

All Minnesota seniors could be offered COVID-19 vaccine in March, health commissioner says

Minnesota health officials say they intend to offer a coronavirus vaccine to all senior citizens by the end of March, though winter weather is slowing vaccinations in the short term.

The seven-day rolling average of doses administered is now 29,705, according to a news release from Walz's office.

Walz called it a "milestone day," but said there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure every Minnesotan has access to the vaccine.

"Every time a Minnesotan gets their shot, they are protecting themselves and moving our entire state closer to ending this pandemic," Walz said in a statement. "We still need more vaccine from the federal government and we have a long road ahead, but we can truly see the light at the end of the tunnel.

MDH reports 1,001 new COVID-19 cases, 8 deaths Friday

Minnesota health officials reported 1,001 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths attributed to the coronavirus Friday.

The 1,001 newly reported cases were out of 45,367 tests—a 2.2% positivity rate, according to the latest Minnesota Department of Health data.

MDH has now confirmed 477,287 COVID-19 cases in Minnesota since the first infection was reported in the state last March. There are currently 7,421 active cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. Over 97% of Minnesota’s COVID-19 cases have recovered to the point where the infected person no longer needs to be isolated from others.

Five of the eight deaths reported on Friday were in the Twin Cities metro. Two of the people who died were residents of long-term care or assisted living facilities and one lived in a group home or residential behavioral health facility. The age range of the newly reported deaths was 65-89 years old.

A total of 6,412 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19 to date.

There are currently 282 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota, 59 of whom are in the ICU.

Minnesota launches online vaccine registry

Minnesota launched an online vaccine registry Thursday for people who have not yet gotten a vaccine—even those who are not currently eligible—to get notified of future opportunities.

Health officials are encouraging all Minnesotans who have not gotten a vaccine to sign up on COVID-19 Vaccine Connector website. The website requires people to fill out a short form with basic information such as contact information, medical history and employment information, after which it will alert them when they are eligible to receive a vaccine and connect them to resources for scheduling a vaccine appointment.

Minnesotans can sign up at mn.gov/vaccineconnector. Minnesotans unable to sign up online can call 833-431-2053 for assistance signing up over the phone. Translation is available by phone in all languages by calling the translation hotline at 833-431-2053.