Florida reports more than 9,400 new COVID-19 cases as more vaccine shipments arrive

ORLANDO, Fla. – As the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrive in Central Florida on Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is signaling that another vaccine is on the horizon.

The FDA released a favorable review of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, saying it’s highly protective for adults and can prevent serious cases of the virus. U.S. regulators confirm two doses of Moderna’s vaccine is 94% effective, in line with Moderna’s assessment of its own clinical trial.

After analyzing the reactions of 30,000 people in the trial, scientists say side effects of the shot include fever, headache, fatigue and pain at the injection site. The FDA reports that although the side effects may be unpleasant, they are not dangerous. Regulators are expected to grant emergency use authorization by the end of the week.

This means before the end of the year, there could be two coronavirus vaccines in the U.S., a welcome change as public health officials try to curb the spread of COVID-19 during what will likely be an active travel season as families reunite for the holidays.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its analytical report Monday for the week of Dec. 5, outlining data that shows case numbers surpassing trends the nation saw in the summer in what analysts previously believed to be the peak of infections. The CDC expects COVID-19-associated hospitalizations to increase as data shows that within the past month, all age groups have reached their highest weekly hospitalization rate since the start of the pandemic.

With data projecting the pandemic is long from being over, health officials are asking people to not let their guard down in the wake of a vaccine as it could be months before the shots will be administered to the general public.

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. The first doses in Central Florida will arrive at AdventHealth in Orlando on 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 FDA, rolling out what will become the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously said Florida is in line to also get doses of Moderna’s vaccine, once formally approved.

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[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Frontline workers get first Pfizer shots as Florida reports 8,334 new coronavirus infections]

Below is a breakdown of cases, recent deaths, hospitalizations and Florida’s positivity rate reported by the state on Dec. 15:

Cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 9,439 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,143,794 cases since March.

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

Florida reported 94 new virus deaths Tuesday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 20,365 deaths across the state, of those 283 are non-residents who died within the state.

Hospitalizations

As of Tuesday afternoon, there are currently 5,104 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Since March, 58,612 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from the coronavirus. Florida reported Tuesday that 343 people have been recently hospitalized due to the virus.

Positivity rate

The positivity rate for the 97,949 tests reported Tuesday was 9.64%. This statistic is the number of people who tested positive for the first time based on test results reported to the state Monday.

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

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