All 67 Florida counties will soon have access to COVID-19 vaccine

More shipments arriving this week

A FedEx truck loaded with boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine leaves the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool) (Paul Sancya, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The remaining Florida counties that have not yet received a shipment of one of the COVID-19 vaccines will have access to the shots by the end of this week, according to the governor’s office.

“This week, Florida will receive over 120,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and will distribute these doses to hospitals and county health departments that have not previously received the vaccine. As a result, all 67 Florida counties will have received doses of the vaccine by the end of the week. Florida is also receiving over 118,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to begin administering the second dose of this vaccine at the original five pilot hospitals,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news release Tuesday evening.

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Vaccination efforts began with health care workers in the Sunshine State on Dec. 14 and since then records show more than 146,000 health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff and people 65 and older have been inoculated in Florida.

DeSantis said Florida will receive 127,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week, 93,900 of which will go to local health departments that hadn’t previously received any. The remaining 33,200 Moderna doses will go to hospitals that have not yet had access. The state provided a list here showing which hospitals have the shots.

Florida is also planning to accept another 18,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week.

The governor said those shots will be used to provide a second dose to health care workers at the five original pilot hospitals, including AdventHealth in Orlando, and to long-term care facility residents and employees in Broward and Pinellas counties who received their first dose through Florida Department of Health and Florida National Guard strike teams.

Across Central Florida, most counties have unveiled their plans to begin inoculating elderly residents either starting this week or early in January. You can read more about those plans here.


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