Frontline workers get first Pfizer shots as Florida reports 8,334 new coronavirus infections

ORLANDO, Fla. – Thousands of vials of the first U.S.-approved coronavirus vaccine are arriving all over the country Monday, however, immunity from the infectious disease is still months away.

Florida has now topped 1.12 million infections since March, according to the Florida Department of Health data, as Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Tampa Monday for some of the first doses of the vaccine to be administered.

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Among the first in the U.S. and in Florida to receive the Pfizer vaccine shots will be health care workers serving on the pandemic frontlines. A registered nurse administered one of the first doses at Tampa General Hospital to another RN as DeSantis stood nearby watching. UF Health in Jacksonville was technically the first to give out a shot in Florida by about an hour.

The first doses in Central Florida will arrive at AdventHealth in Orlando Tuesday, with the first shots given out to frontline workers Wednesday.

Shots made by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech are the first authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration -- beginning what will become the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.

More of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will arrive each week. And later this week, the FDA will decide whether to green-light the world’s second rigorously studied COVID-19 vaccine, made by Moderna Inc.

Now the hurdle is to rapidly get the vaccine into the arms of millions, not just doctors and nurses but other at-risk health workers such as janitors and food handlers -- and then deliver a second dose three weeks later.

The U.S. is expected to surpass 300,000 COVID-19 fatalities on Monday, Florida has reported more than 20,000 since March.

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[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 8,958 new cases, 141 new hospitalizations]

Below is a breakdown of cases, recent deaths, hospitalizations and Florida’s positivity rate reported by the state on Dec. 14:

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 8,334 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,134,383 cases since March. Of those new cases, 1,898 were reported in the Central Florida region.

Editor’s note: Along with the resources previously utilized by News 6 (state and county-by-county data), as of Dec. 7, WKMG has added state data pulled from the Florida Department of Health’s Florida COVID19 State Testing Totals. This new dataset includes the number of people tested the day prior, which is the number public health officials use to calculate the state’s daily positivity rate.

Deaths

The state reported 138 new virus deaths Monday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 20,271 deaths across the state, of those 268 are non-residents who died in Florida.

Hospitalizations

As of Monday afternoon, there are currently 4,859 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

In total, 58,269 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. The state reported 142 new hospitalizations on Monday.

Positivity rate

The positivity rate for the 99,936 tests reported Monday was 8.34 %.

See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.