JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly a dozen hospitals in Northeast Florida are set to receive Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine soon, but the exact timetable is unclear.
Florida Governor @GovRonDeSantis says 367,000 doses of @moderna_tx’s COVID19 vaccine will be shipped to 173 Florida hospitals. Below is a list of NEFL hospitals scheduled to receive shipments. @wjxt4 pic.twitter.com/b49v5KQGnt
— Zachery Lashway (@ZachLashway) December 21, 2020
Early Sunday, trucks left the Olive Branch, Mississippi, factory, near Memphis, Tennessee, with the Moderna vaccine, just two days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized their emergency rollout.
The Associated Press reported the much-needed shots are expected to be given starting Monday but did not specify a location.
Memorial Hospital said it might receive a shipment of Moderna’s vaccine sometime early next week. For now, the health system still has a supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on hand.
#UPDATE: @MemorialJax says it might receive @moderna_tx’s COVID19 vaccine sometime early next week. For now, the hospital has supplies of @pfizer’s vaccine. @wjxt4
— Zachery Lashway (@ZachLashway) December 21, 2020
Spokespeople for Ascension St. Vincent’s and Baptist Health said they would announce specifics when the hospitals received the vaccines, but no timetable for delivery was announced. A UF Health Jacksonville spokesperson said there’s no clear timeframe there either.
“I have no knowledge at this point that today’s even the day, much less a specific time,” the UF Health spokesperson said.
#UPDATE: A @Jaxhealth official tells me he has no timeline of when @moderna_tx’s #COVID19 vaccine will arrive. “I have no knowledge at this point that today’s even the day, much less a specific time.” @wjxt4
— Zachery Lashway (@ZachLashway) December 21, 2020
The Moderna vaccine is the second shipment to go out in the last two weeks. This rollout is 4x larger than Pfizer’s was, with 6 million Moderna doses.
Unlike Pfizer’s, Moderna’s shot does not need to be kept at super-cold temperatures, making it more accessible for smaller distribution sites in smaller communities. It also can be kept in a refrigerator for 30 days before it expires.
