CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After several days of vaccinations for healthcare workers and seniors in long-term care facility using Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a second vaccine will begin to arrive in South Florida next week.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was cleared Friday by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use.
During the first round of inoculations, more than 32,000 Floridians have already been vaccinated.
“We’re hoping now with Moderna coming sometime next week that it will help supplement the Pfizer vaccine and we can make sure that all healthcare workers throughout the entire state, including the rural areas, will get it,” Carlos A. Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System said.
Dr. Sunil Kumar was the first healthcare worker to be vaccinated last week at Broward Health Medical Center. He literally jumped for joy after he received the shot. “Well, obviously I was very excited. Me along with a lot of our healthcare workers, we have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he said.
He said he is excited about both vaccines being available. “So between the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine, they should not be any different. The technology is the same,” said Kumar.
In Florida, some 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected to ship in the first week, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said will be distributed to 173 hospital locations that did not receive doses in the first allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. These hospital locations span 43 counties.
A larger number of hospitals can be included in the Moderna vaccine distribution than the first emergency use authorized vaccine by Pfizer. That vaccine required ultra-cold storage while Moderna’s does not.
In South Florida, two dozen hospitals are expected to receive the Moderna vaccine next week. They include:
· Baptist Hospital of Miami
· Broward Health Coral Springs
· Broward Health Imperial Point
· Broward Health Medical Center
· Broward Health North
· Cleveland Clinic
· Coral Gables Hospital
· Doctors Hospital, Coral Gables
· Hialeah Hospital
· Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale
· Homestead Hospital
· Jackson Memorial Hospital
· Mercy Hospital, a campus of Plantation General Hospital
· Mount Sinai Medical Center
· Northwest Medical Center, Margate
· North Shore Medical Center, Miami
· Palmetto General Hospital
· Plantation General Hospital
· Select Specialty Hospital (not identified), Miami
· Select Specialty Hospital (not identified), Miami Lakes
· University Hospital and Medical Center, Tamarac
· University of Miami Hospital and Clinics, UHealth Tower
· West Gables Rehabilitation Hospital
· Westside Regional Medical Center