ORLANDO, Fla. – More than 1,500 people 65 or older or health care workers with affiliations to AdventHealth pulled into an empty economy parking lot at the Orlando International Airport Tuesday to get their first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine through AdventHealth. It’s the first community vaccination site provided by the health care system.
“We set this up to be able to give as many shots as our community needs as we are able to get them,” said Dr. Scott Brady, CEO of AdventHealth Centra Care.
Last week, AdventHealth sent an email to patients and employees saying they were going to open up 7,000 appointments. Those appointments were all booked in less than four, Brady said.
The goal is to get those 7,000 vaccines administered by Friday.
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“Today we will see between 1,500-1,600 people and we will do that every day for the next four days,” Brady said. “We won’t waste any vaccines.”
By the end of this first event on Friday, AdventHealth said they would have distributed 37,000 vaccines to their healthcare workers and the community of those 65 and older. By the end of Friday, they would have used up all of the vaccines they have.
This comes as CDC data provided Monday shows of the 1.6 million vaccines distributed to Florida more than 1 million still sit in vials. AdventHealth saying they have no extras left.
“Have we thrown out doses? Absolutely not,” Brady added. “We haven’t thrown any out. We have used all the doses.”
He says the state is telling AdventHealth to get vaccines out as fast as they can, adding that once they run out, they hope the state can replenish their supply to continue community vaccination events like the one at the OIA.
“We are waiting minute by minutes to hear about more doses,” Brady said. “We want to so much so we can give it to the community.”