ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida will soon be armed with more first doses of a coronavirus vaccine to help fend off the pandemic.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the state will receive more first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines next week.
According to the CDC, Florida should expect 262,080 first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 208,000 first doses of Moderna’s.
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The governor also announced Wednesday, Moderna shipments delayed due to a brutal winter storm that swept the nation were also available for use this week, supplying more opportunities for vaccination.
“What you have now is the Moderna from two weeks ago was delayed because of the ice storms so that Moderna... that’s being used and then this week’s Moderna. So I think you’re gonna see definitely more doses than last week,” the governor said.
The combined total of Pfizer and Moderna means the state will receive 470,080 doses dedicated to vaccinating people for the first time next week. This is up more than 22,200 doses than this week’s allotment. Records show there’s been an increase in first-dose shipments to Florida over the past three weeks as well.
This increase in supply comes as the CDC is also starting to track allotments of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine. CDC data shows Florida is scheduled to receive 175,100 doses of Janssen, the vaccine division under J&J.
“That actually is enough for us to do all law enforcement, all fire, all school (employees) aged 50 and up in the entire state,” DeSantis said Wednesday.
The governor said Florida is hoping to receive the J&J doses by the end of the week. He just signed an executive order expanding vaccine eligibility to people under 65 that are considered ‘extremely vulnerable to COVID-19’ and to law enforcement, firefighters and school employees who are at least 50 years old or older.
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J&J, Pfizer and Moderna doses are specifically given to Florida to allocate within the state accordingly. This increase in vaccine is separate from federal doses being used at the state’s four new FEMA sites and the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, meaning the state is armed to vaccinate around half a million people a week.
“We also have more footprint now Publix has every Publix pharmacy is now offering vaccine. We’re seeing the expansion Walgreens is coming online, you’re seeing we expanded CVS in Miami Dade,” DeSantis said. “We have all always been working with pharmacies with our doses, but all those other pharmacies that’s all in addition to what the state’s getting. So I think this is going to be a really good week.”
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