DeSantis had hoped for more initial COVID-19 vaccines than Florida got
By Christine Sexton
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — With nearly 180,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses slated to head this way, Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged on Friday that the amount coming to Florida is less than what he initially anticipated.
Nevertheless, the governor expressed optimism as he explained the state's plan to distribute the first round of vaccines to front-line workers at five hospitals across the state and to long-term care facility residents and staff.
It was not clear whether the initial vaccine amount will prevent the state from being able to vaccinate all long-term care residents against COVID-19 by the end of the year, as DeSantis had said earlier this week. DeSantis' office didn't immediately comment.
"These next six to eight weeks, if we can get the nursing homes, first-line health care (workers) and then start getting it out to the broader senior population, man, that is going to make such a big difference," DeSantis told reporters during an appearance in Tampa.
DeSantis said he thought the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which signed an agreement with Pfizer Inc., would allocate vaccines based on states' so-called at-risk populations. Instead, DeSantis said the federal government "basically did it on a population basis."
"We should be optimistic about what could be coming down the pike here. Look, if I could get double, I would get double. I thought that because we have more elderly population, it should not just be population, but it should be underlying demographics," the governor said, adding that he was "going to fight for as much as we can get."
Federal emergency use authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appeared imminent Friday.
DeSantis said Thursday 179,400 Pfizer vaccine doses will be coming to Florida. Of that amount, 81,900 will be sent to CVS and Walgreens and the Florida Department of Health to vaccinate seniors and staff at long-term care facilities, which include nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The Department of Health plans to deploy teams to long-term care facilities in Broward and Pinellas counties, where facilities have had a combined total of more than 1,100 COVID-19 deaths.
The other 97,500 will be sent to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, AdventHealth in Orlando, Tampa General Hospital, the Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County and University of Florida Health Jacksonville to vaccinate front-line health workers.