Nebraska administers nearly 5% more vaccine doses last week

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The number of people getting vaccinated for the coronavirus increased nearly 5% last week in Nebraska.

State officials said 48,982 doses of the vaccines were administered last week, up from 46,806 doses the week before. The state is working to speed up distribution of the vaccines.

So far, about 4.6% of the state’s population has received both required doses of a vaccine. Nebraska said Monday that it has administered 232,896 doses of the vaccines.

Across the state, local health departments have begun vaccinating people 65 and older and some essential workers in the second phase of the campaign. Health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities were the first to get the shots.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska fell over the past two weeks from 849.14 new cases per day on Jan. 24 to 429.86 new cases per day on Sunday. The state said 193,826 virus cases and 1,968 deaths have been reported in Nebraska since the pandemic began.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus in the state declined again Sunday to 250 from the previous day’s 272. That number hasn’t been that low since early October. It has fallen steadily since peaking at 987 in November.