TAMPA, Fla. — The first doses of the Coronavirus vaccine have arrived in Tampa Bay.
Nearly 100,000 doses are being divided among five hospitals in the state, and the rest will go to pharmacies and the Department of Health.
By the end of the month, the state will have received at least 700,000 doses of the vaccine, and Governor Ron DeSantis said if things go as planned, it could be closer to 1,000,000 doses by January.
What You Need To Know
- 1st doses of vaccine are now in the Bay area
- 1st vaccine administered to a nurse Monday at Tampa General Hospital
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“We want to see as much of this rolling off the assembly line and getting into hospitals as we can,” said Gov. Desantis.
The Governor promised hundreds of thousands more doses during a press conference at Tampa General Hospital Monday morning where a nurse received the first vaccine in the Tampa Bay area.
Florida is already set to receive more of the Pfizer vaccine, which arrived on Monday morning, despite some production issues. If the pharmaceutical company is able to work through those problems, the state will have received closer to one million doses from Pfizer alone.
Moderna is also working on a Coronavirus vaccine.
Gov. DeSantis said the FDA will likely approve it by the end of the week.
“So, Moderna, the advisory committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the issues with Moderna,” he said. “We expect a recommendation for that, and then the FDA will work through the night to be able to get the EUA issued on Friday this week, and then we're in the same schedule we had with Pzifer. The shipments will be arranged, we'll start receiving them hopefully Sunday, Monday, Tuesday of the following week.”
Governor DeSantis has still not made the state’s final plan public. It was due to the FDA on December 4.