JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ahead of the Food and Drug Administration’s meeting Thursday over Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Ron Desantis said he expects 180,000 doses to come to Florida in the first shipment.
“We are obviously at the mercy of tomorrow’s meeting with the FDA,” DeSantis said during a stop in Jacksonville on Wednesday. “The doses are ready to ship.”
The governor told reporters the state plans to allocate 100,000 of the doses to five of Florida’s largest heath systems, including UF Health Jacksonville.
The hospitals will be charged with storing Pfizer’s vaccine at -70 degrees Celsius and distributing the vaccine to surrounding healthcare systems to vaccinate healthcare workers — one of two groups identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as priority in the first phase of vaccinations.
DeSantis said his administration will divide vaccines among hospitals and long-term care facilities, based on population. Already, hospitals like Baptist Health in Jacksonville are identifying which of its workers will have priority to receive the vaccine.
“We’re assuming that we won’t get enough to cover all of our 12,000 13,000 employees right out of the gate,” said Baptist Health Chief Physician Executive Dr. Elizabeth Ransom. “We’ve done a more detailed prioritization, primarily, those who are working directly with COVID patients we feel are at the highest risk so those individuals will be prioritized initially to receive however many vaccines we wind up getting.”
The other 80,000 doses are expected to target residents and staff in long-term care facilities, the governor said. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration has already issued a mandate requiring that long-term care facilities allow entry to authorized representatives administering the vaccine.
DeSantis said CVS and Walgreens have been contracted to go inside long-term care facilities to vaccinate residents and staff once the vaccine gets FDA approval.
“I have National Guard mobilized and they are ready to go and administer doses in some of these counties if they are not ready right off the bat because we think it’s important,” the governor said.
DeSantis said following the first shipment, his administration wants to target the broader senior populations — including those who don’t live in long-term care facilities.
“As Moderna is approved the next week, as we anticipate, you’ll have another shipment of Pfizer and another shipment of Moderna. We want to do tip-of-the-spear workers; we want to do long-term care residents and staff and then we want to get into the broader senior population, which is where the high risk is.”