More than 4,600 doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered to Colorado’s nursing home residents and staff, a week into the inoculation efforts in those facilities.

The distribution of the vaccine in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities is being handled jointly by CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, under the purview of the federal government. Staff and residents of those facilities are near the top of the state’s priority plan, as the residents are particularly at risk for severe illness and disease.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health and Environment said that Walgreen has administered 2,206 vaccinations, and CVS has doled out 2,443. Those figures are a combined number for both residents and staff and are just from nursing homes.

It’s unclear what share of the population that 4,649 number represents, though it appears small. Doug Farmer, the head of nursing home trade group the Colorado Health Care Association, said last month that in nursing homes alone, there are between 35,000 and 50,000 residents. The state has more than 200 nursing homes, which doesn’t include assisted-living facilities. 

The facilities have been particularly battered by the virus. Even now, as the pandemic’s presence in Colorado subsides from its November highs, long-term care centers have continued to report new outbreaks, setting new records each week. 

As of Dec. 30, there were 138 outbreaks in nursing homes, plus 150 more in assisted-living facilities. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there were 223 nursing homes in Colorado last year; just 85 of them were outbreak-free as of last week. 

A message to Farmer was not returned Tuesday. But he said last week that he had heard only positive things thus far.

Karen Miller, the immunization nurse manager for the Tri-County Health Department, said she also hadn’t any concerns about vaccination efforts in those facilities yet. 

“They’re right on track,” she said. “They are estimating that by mid-January they’ll have reached the majority of those (skilled nursing) facilities.”

It will likely take another few weeks to vaccinate a majority of assisted-living facilities, she said.

As of Tuesday, Colorado has delivered more than 120,500 doses of the vaccine. The state has also expanded who is given priority to receive the vaccine and when, an expansion that includes educators, journalists and those over 69 years old.