Nearly 11,500 Minnesotans vaccinated at community clinics in first days of pilot program

State officials on Sunday reported that 11,488 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 at community clinics across Minnesota since they opened on Thursday.

The doses were administered to the target demographics of the state’s vaccine pilot program that kicked off this week: child care providers, educators and Minnesotans ages 65 and up.

Seniors, educators, child care providers get COVID-19 vaccines in Minnesota’s pilot program

In a statement, Teddy Tschann, a spokesman for Gov. Tim Walz, said no vaccine doses were wasted among vials that had been opened.

"Along with other vaccination efforts underway across Minnesota, we are well on our way to reaching the goal of vaccinating most Minnesotans," he said in a statement.

However, Tschann said Minnesota "continues to face a crippling vaccine supply shortage" as the state works to get doses to health care workers and long-term care residents during Phase 1A of the vaccine rollout.

Among the nine state-run vaccination clinics, 6,000 slots were reserved for older residents and another 6,000 were reserved for those working at schools and child care facilities. Sign-ups began at noon Tuesday, and all the appointments for the 65-plus age group had filled up in less than 24 hours.

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As of Thursday, 311,600 Minnesotans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 63,185 had completed the two-shot series, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Out of the 871,650 doses that have thus far been promised to Minnesota from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 522,975 doses have been shipped to health care providers and 153,300 have been shipped for the CDC’s long-term care vaccination program. So far the state has administered 46.1% of all doses shipped to their final destination.