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TAMPA, Fla. – At a press conference at Tampa General Hospital on Monday morning, a 31-year-old nurse lifted her throat and became one of the first Floridians to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Department of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz and officials from Tampa General vaccinated in the milestone moment in the fight against the deadly respiratory illness, first reported in Sunshine State in March.
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Health care systems across the country on Monday received the first batches of the recently authorized vaccine made by Pfizer. At Tampa General Hospital, delivery via FedEx arrived at 10am – 30 minutes ahead of schedule – with 19,500 doses.
The regulator said about 100,000 doses will be received this week for use on health care workers who are on the front lines, 60,000 will go to CVS and Walgreens for administration at long-term care facilities and another 20,000 are expected Tuesday who will also help residents at long-term care facilities.
Five hospital systems in Florida were selected as the first to receive, store and manage the scenes: Tampa General, AdventHealth Orlando, Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, UF Health Jacksonville and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
AdventHealth Orlando expects to receive its passengers Tuesday and then begin vaccinating employees Wednesday.
Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency manager, said the doses going to AdventHealth will be released.
“AdventHealth Orlando is for all campuses, so Seminole County will see vaccinations in the county within the next two to three days,” Harris said.
As soon as the five hospital systems vaccinate their doctors, nurses and other front-line workers, they will go to other hospitals in their respective districts and begin vaccinating those workers, according to the governor.
“So we think we’re getting this at a good time. We think that if we get it to the right people who are more likely to be in hospital, you can, keep going, keep those numbers going … so today pictures of us going in arms. Our healthcare workers get the vaccine much faster than anyone would have expected just six months ago, ”said DeSantis.
Harris told News 6 that they are already equipped with equipment for handling dry ice, keeping workers safe while working to ensure the vaccine is maintained.
Once health care workers and long-term care residents receive doses, the next step is to protect the elderly and those with preexisting conditions that a COVID-19 case could do well. dona.
“We’re trying to prioritize the people who can make the most of it and we’re going to keep living,” DeSantis said.
As far as Florida’s general population, meaning healthy residents, under the age of 65 and not working in health care, the regulator expects the vaccine to be available to them at some point in February 2021 .
“As we come in, perhaps, in February you could be in a situation where there will be vaccinations for people regardless of their condition or health risks or age. It may not be before that time and that may not be entirely at that stage, but that is quite possible so we are just going to keep in touch, telling people how to we do, ”said DeSantis.
DeSantis said the timeline is really smooth and one possible issue is that Pfizer already has production issues that could jeopardize its slate shipping for the next few weeks. ahead. However, DeSantis is hopeful that the Moderna vaccine could get an emergency use license before Friday and start shipping shortly thereafter.
“Now the only thing we are waiting for, and the first plan for the Pfizer, we were going to get 179,000 this week, but then we were going to will receive several 100,000 each the next two weeks of Pfizer, at the moment we don’t know. They have sort of put it back. I think they work through some production issues. So we expect the Moderna to arrive at the beginning of next week, between 300-400,000 doses. We hope that Pfizer ‘s order will be fulfilled for the next two weeks following what we receive today and tomorrow. If we get all of that, as recorded then that is probably over a million doses. If we don’t get the remaining Pfizer, you know, we’re looking at maybe 700 to 750,000 for the month of December, ”said the regulator.
Johnson & Johnson is expected to seek approval in January for another coronavirus vaccine.
As of March, Florida has reported a total of 1,125,931 coronavirus cases, 19,866 deaths and 58,127 hospitalizations.
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