MIAMI – Florida is getting an increased shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government next week, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday.
About 307,000 doses — around 40,000 more than in previous weeks — should arrive early next week and will be distributed to areas where they can be most effective based on the percentage of senior citizens inoculated, the governor said.
“The 40,000 additional [shots], that is like not going to be a big difference in terms of this is a gamechanger,” DeSantis said. “But it is helpful.”
DeSantis and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki verbally sparred this week over Florida’s vaccine distribution progress.
The governor says the state doesn’t need federal help distributing the vaccine, it just needs more supply.
“We don’t need more infrastructure,” DeSantis said. “Let’s just get more doses.”
We just learned Florida’s vaccine allocation for next week. My statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Y0t7IaMU8z
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 27, 2021
The increase comes as some hospitals have had to slow their distribution, including Mercy Hospital, which postponed second dose vaccinations for community-based healthcare workers and first responders this week, according to an internal email.
Other hospital systems told Local 10 that they had enough supply to keep all their second-dose appointments.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says that he doesn’t believe vaccine supply will be as much of an issue as the year goes on, but it is now.
“I think by the time we’re in the summer we’re actually going to have more doses than we know what to do with,” Jha said. “So I’m not worried about the summertime. I’m worried about the next couple of months.”
DeSantis also spoke Wednesday about the much anticipated Johnson & Johnson vaccine, saying it could be approved in February. He noted that could be a good option for the state’s essential workers, once available, because it is a one-dose shot.