DeSantis: Florida to receive 480K more COVID-19 vaccines this week

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – During a news conference on Monday in Key Biscayne, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is receiving more than 480,000 COVID-19 vaccines this week — including about 361,000 from Moderna and more than 120,000 from Pfizer.

DeSantis said Florida received 61,000 vaccines from Moderna on Monday and will receive 300,000 more on Tuesday. Pfizer’s delivery of 120,000 more COVID-19 vaccines, he said, will arrive either on Monday or Tuesday.

All of these dosages, he said, will be delivered to more than 170 hospitals in Florida where the frontline health care workers are receiving vaccinations. DeSantis said his next priority is to continue to distribute the vaccines at long-term care facilities.

“Our whole strategy around COVID has always recognized the dramatic discrepancy in risk based on age,” DeSantis said. “If you’re trying to mitigate based on age, surely you would want to vaccinate based on age.”

DeSantis took issue with an advisory panel’s recommendation to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the next priority group to receive the vaccine include firefighters, teachers, grocery store clerks, and other professionals who have regular contact with the general public.

“The problem with that, I believe, is that a 22-year-old food service worker would get a vaccine over a 74-year-old grandmother, and that’s not an appropriate calculation of relative risks there,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis, 42, said he will eventually get the vaccine, but not before those in the vulnerable groups that he is prioritizing receive the vaccine.

Each state has the authority to direct its COVID-19 vaccine distribution. DeSantis plans to release more information about Florida’s next phase on Tuesday during a news conference.

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Glenna Milberg headshot

Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."

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The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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