On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he expects all residents of the state’s long-term care facilities to have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month.
“We are prioritizing long-term care residents and staff and then the tip of the sphere healthcare workers. As we get past that, that we think we can do with the first couple weeks of doses that were allocated,” DeSantis said.
Gov. DeSantis said he expects more vaccines to be sent to Florida as more are approved by the FDA.
“Then we think based on the numbers, at the end of December, we can start getting it out to the broader senior population, and then January really focus on vaccinating as many elderly people as we can,” DeSantis said.
The Pfizer vaccine could be approved for emergency use by the FDA on Thursday. The agency already released a favorable analysis of the data, confirming its 95 percent efficacy rate.
Gov. DeSantis said Floridians should feel confident in the science behind the vaccines.
“I think the fact that we are not threatening to mandate it helps because we say, look we think it’s important but obviously you make decisions,” DeSantis said.
The Florida Department of Health has said it expects the state to receive 170,000 initial doses that will be sent to five hospitals across the state.
Both CVS and Walgreens also said on Tuesday that they are preparing to administer vaccines to more than 70,000 long-term care facilities across the country.