The first doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in Brevard County next week, according to the latest information from the Florida Department of Health.
The state said it is preparing to receive 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine sometime next week. That vaccine has not yet been approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but approval is expected as early as Friday, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipped earlier this week, the Moderna vaccine does not require super-cold storage making it accessible to more health-care facilities.
The state said it planned to distribute the vaccines to 173 hospitals that did not receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week. They include:
- Health First Regional Medical Center
- Cape Canaveral Hospital
- Kindred Hospital Melbourne
- Melbourne Regional Medical Center
- Palm Bay Hospital
- Parrish Medical Center
- Rockledge Regional Medical Center
- Viera Hospital
The state did not say how many doses each hospital would get. The Moderna vaccine is administered in two separate doses 28 days apart. The Pfizer vaccine also requires two injections.
The first doses are slated for frontline healthcare workers. Walgreens and CVS pharmacies have been contracted by the government to distribute to the vaccine to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes under a different program that is expected to start Monday.
But for the general public, the county said the vaccine might not be available until late spring or early next summer.
“This is a phased approach because we have limited doses. As more doses become available, we’re going to be able to expand the groups that get it,” Brevard County Intermin Emergency Management Director John Scott said.
The health department said 18,000 people in Brevard caught COVID-19 this year, 484 of those people died and 88 percent of those deaths were people older than the age of 65.
“It’s really important that everyone is patient. We are going to follow the governor’s phasing plan,” Stahl said about the vaccine rollout.
Thursday was the county’s last COVID-19 newser of the year. Brevard’s health leaders plan to return with another update on the virus and the vaccine in January.