Nov. 8, 2021
A new study released by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that during the month of September, Texans not vaccinated against COVID-19 were about 20 times more likely to suffer a COVID-19-associated death and 13 times more likely to test positive than people who were fully vaccinated.
Nov. 4, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services is partnering with universities and laboratories across Texas to expand genomic sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Nov. 3, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to over 900 providers in 155 Texas counties over the next week.
Oct. 29, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services is investigating a case of rabies in a child who was bitten by a bat. The child is a resident of Medina County and is currently receiving care in a Texas hospital.
Oct. 18, 2021
COVID-19 vaccination rates vary among the diverse population of Texas, and the reasons people may not be vaccinated are diverse, as well.
Oct. 6, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services kicks off a new round of pop-up events today encouraging everyone 12 years old and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sept. 30, 2021
Oct. 1 is Texas Influenza Awareness Day
With flu season approaching and COVID-19 still spreading in Texas, now is the best time to get a flu shot.
Aug. 11, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has informed cities, counties and health care facilities that the state will resume filling requests for medical surge staff that cannot be met locally.
July 28, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services will award $10 million to local organizations working to promote COVID-19 vaccinations in Texas.
July 27, 2021
Public health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of illness caused by West Nile virus in 2021.
July 23, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services and its partners are again offering free health clinics at locations around South Texas as a way to prepare for disasters and public health emergencies.
July 22, 2021
With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the rise in Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services is again hitting the road to promote vaccination.
July 16, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services is working with Dallas County Health and Human Services and the CDC to investigate a single case of monkeypox virus infection in a Dallas County resident who recently returned from Nigeria.
June 1, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services today adds testing for spinal muscular atrophy to the health screening done for every baby born in Texas.
May 12, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has notified vaccine providers that they should begin to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to adolescents from 12 to 15 years old, in line with federal guidance.
May 7, 2021
In anticipation of the expansion of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine’s Emergency Use Authorization to include adolescents age 12 years and older, the Texas Department of State Health Services invites pediatric health care providers to enroll in the COVID-19 Vaccine Program.
May 6, 2021
Sufficient supply means providers may order vaccine as needed
The Texas Department of State Health Services will no longer allocate COVID-19 vaccine to providers on a weekly basis.
May 1, 2021
Providers to receive up to 1.5 million doses next week; more available
The Texas Department of State Health Services is allocating 446,460 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to providers that requested it for next week.
April 24, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has notified vaccine providers in the state that they should resume using the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
April 23, 2021
More than 1.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
April 19, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services is launching the next phase of its campaign encouraging Texans to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with a $1.5 million television and radio ad buy.
April 16, 2021
More than 1.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
April 13, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services is asking vaccine providers in Texas to pause all administration of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine following today’s recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
April 9, 2021
3 million doses given since vaccination opened to everyone 16 and older
More than 1.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
April 2, 2021
State today reports record 360,000 new doses administered
More than 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
March 29, 2021
Registration available for vaccine clinics by DSHS and some other public health entities
As Texas opens COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone age 16 and older, the Texas DSHS is launching the Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler.
March 26, 2021
State surpasses 10 million doses administered
More than 1 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
March 23, 2021
DSHS directs providers to continue to prioritize older adults
All adults will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Texas beginning Monday, March 29.
March 19, 2021
More than 3 million people fully vaccinated
Over 900,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
March 12, 2021
5 million people vaccinated as Texas expands eligibility
More than 800,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
March 10, 2021
Texas will continue to protect those at the greatest risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 by expanding vaccination to people 50 to 64 years of age on March 15.
March 5, 2021
Vaccine coming through state, federal allocations
More than 1 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be shipped to providers across Texas next week.
March 3, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services today notified all vaccine providers that they should immediately include school and child care workers in vaccine administration.
Feb. 26, 2021
State surpasses 5 million doses administered
The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses shipping to Texas providers continues to climb with 676,280 first doses allocated to the state by the federal government for the week of March 1.
Feb. 19, 2021
CDC continues shipping vaccine for the current week, delayed due to weather
As Texas thaws from this week’s winter storms, COVID-19 vaccine will again be distributed across the state in larger amounts. Texas providers have been allocated 591,920 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government for the week of Feb. 22.
Feb. 16, 2021
With power outages from this week’s winter storm affecting large portions of Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services is urging people to use extreme caution with electric generators and heat sources that produce carbon monoxide.
Feb. 12, 2021
More than one million Texans are fully vaccinated
The state of Texas will receive 407,650 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government for the week of Feb. 15.
Feb. 5, 2021
The state of Texas will receive 401,750 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government for the week of Feb. 8. The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship those doses to 358 providers in 135 counties across Texas.
Jan. 29, 2021
The state of Texas will receive 520,425 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government for the week of Feb. 1.
Jan. 23, 2021
The state of Texas will receive 332,750 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government next week.
Jan. 18, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services takes aim at rabies when its Oral Rabies Vaccination Program resumes flights Jan. 18 from Zapata.
Jan. 16, 2021
The state Texas will receive 333,650 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week. The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship those doses to 260 providers across Texas.
Jan. 10, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 234 providers this week.
Jan. 7, 2021
The first known Texas case of the COVID-19 B.1.1.7 variant has been identified in a resident of Harris County.
Jan. 7, 2021
Next week, Texas will direct most of the COVID-19 vaccine received from the federal government to large providers who can vaccinate a total of more than 100,000 people.
Jan. 4, 2021
The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 949 providers in 158 Texas counties over the next week.
Dec. 28, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is instructing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship COVID-19 vaccine to more than 350 providers in 94 Texas counties over the next week.
Dec. 21, 2020
The state of Texas will prioritize people who are at the greatest risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 for the next phase of vaccination.
Dec. 18, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is instructing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship COVID-19 vaccine to more than 1,100 providers in 185 Texas counties over the next week.
Dec. 14, 2020
The first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered in Texas. Four sites received 19,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Monday morning.
Dec. 11, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services today will update the COVID-19 data dashboard to include additional data and to simplify the layout to improve functionality.
Nov. 18, 2020
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, Texas enters the holiday season at a time when COVID-19 is spreading rapidly and hospitalizations continue to rise throughout the state.
Oct. 19, 2020
To help public health professionals and scientists better understand the spread of COVID-19 in Texas and the immune response it causes in individuals, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are partnering with the Texas Department of State Health Services to launch the Texas Coronavirus Antibody Response Survey, Texas CARES.
Oct. 26, 2020
With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising, you don’t have to abandon Halloween and Día de los Muertos activities, but you can make them safer this year.
Oct. 19, 2020
To help public health professionals and scientists better understand the spread of COVID-19 in Texas and the immune response it causes in individuals, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are partnering with the Texas Department of State Health Services to launch the Texas Coronavirus Antibody Response Survey, Texas CARES.
Sept. 30, 2020
Oct. 1 is Texas Influenza Awareness Day
With cold and flu season beginning and COVID-19 still spreading in Texas, now is a perfect time to get a flu shot. The Texas Department of State Health Services encourages everyone to protect themselves, their families and their communities against respiratory illness throughout the flu season by getting immunized as soon as possible.
Sept. 17, 2020
In collaboration with the Texas Education agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services today posted on the
DSHS website the statewide number of cases of COVID-19 reported by Texas public schools.
Sept. 14, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services today will begin reporting two additional measures of the COVID-19 positivity rate, the percentage of tests that are positive in a given period.
Aug. 27, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is sharing health precautions as residents return to areas affected by Hurricane Laura.
Aug. 20, 2020
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) in collaboration with the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) today announced a new system to monitor and report confirmed COVID-19 cases in public schools across Texas.
Aug. 3, 2020
DSHS has launched the Consumable Hemp Program to regulate the manufacturing, processing, distribution and retail sale of consumable hemp products.
July 31, 2020
DSHS will not post new data on the COVID-19 dashboard on Sunday, August 2 due to a scheduled upgrade to the system that processes electronic lab reports.
July 27, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is improving the reporting of fatalities due to COVID-19 by identifying them through the cause of death listed on death certificates.
July 23, 2020
With the first Texas case of West Nile virus disease this year, DSHS reminds people to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites and stop transmission of the potentially deadly disease.
May 31, 2020
The company that reported a missing radiographic camera has located the device intact.
May 30, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is notifying the public of a missing radiographic camera, an industrial device that contains radioactive material. The material is sealed within multiple layers of protection, and the risk of exposure is very low.
May 12, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is distributing 1,200 vials of the drug remdesivir to hospitals to treat patients with COVID-19.
March 24, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is updating its method of reporting COVID-19 cases in Texas. In order to provide more timely information, the DSHS daily case count now includes all cases reported publicly by local health departments around the state.
March 19, 2020
Calls on Texans to stay home and limit gatherings to 10 people
Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, today declared a public health disaster in Texas because COVID-19 "has created an immediate threat, poses a high risk of death to a large number of people and creates a substantial risk of public exposure because of the disease's method of transmission and evidence that there is community spread in Texas."
March 17, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed the first death of a Texas resident who tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. The patient was a man in his 90s who was a resident of Matagorda County and had been hospitalized.
March 15, 2020
At the request of the Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas has received a share of personal protective equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile.
March 11, 2020
Public health officials in Texas are investigating a case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, in a Montgomery County resident with no out-of-state travel and no identified contact with another person with COVID-19.
March 9, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is working with Collin County Health Care Services and other local health departments to investigate a presumptive positive case of COVID-19 in a Collin County resident with recent travel to California. The patient remains isolated at home under public health monitoring as additional testing is done to confirm the test result. Collin County is leading the investigation to identify close contacts of the individual and monitor and test them as appropriate.
March 4, 2020
Travel-related case in Fort Bend County
The Texas Department of State Health Services and Fort Bend County Health and Human Services are reporting the first positive test result for COVID-19 in Texas outside of the passengers returned under federal quarantine from Wuhan City, China or the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Feb. 29, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is notifying people who visited the cattle barn at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Feb. 11-14 that they may need to be assessed for a possible rabies exposure.
Jan. 18, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is notifying people who visited the Erath County Humane Society Jan. 3-15 that they may need to be assessed for a possible rabies exposure.
Jan. 9, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services is alerting consumers after a case of mercury poisoning was linked to a cosmetic purchased in Mexico.
Jan. 8, 2020
The Texas Department of State Health Services' successful Oral Rabies Vaccination Program gets off to a flying start today in its annual mission to protect people and animals from the deadly disease.