Multiple reports say that Tampa General Hospital and Advent Health will be some of the first hospitals in Florida to administer COVID-19 vaccines in Tampa Bay.
South Florida Sun Sentinel says the first vaccines are supposed to arrive in mid-December, with another shipment coming in January. The vaccine is not yet approved for use, but the Sentinel wrote that “ The vaccine stored by hospitals will be whichever the government approves first, possibly Pfizer’s.”
In a statement, Orlando’a AdventHealth wrote, “Many details will be worked out in the weeks and months ahead…” As expected, the Sentinel said that administration of whichever vaccine arrives will entail a phased approach that creates groups based on priority.
“During the first phase, the vaccine will be available for front-line health care workers in hospitals, long-term-care staff and residents, and first responders,” Lidia Amoretti, spokeswoman for Jackson Health System, told the newspaper.
Tampa General has yet to release any additional information. This is a developing post.
“We don't have an exact time but we do have a call set up with the Surgeon General today and we're going to learn a lot more about it as we move forward,” Dr. Seetha Lakshmi—Medical Director, Global Emerging Diseases Institute at USF Health and TGH Infectious Disease, said in a video from the hospital.
“Health care workers on the frontlines are going to be the priority number one so that's the phase one and anybody who's at risk for contracting COVID-19 because of their job,” Lakshmi said, adding that how much vaccine will be delivered is the “magic question.”
“We don't we don't know yet how much vaccine we're going to get, but again you know we have the call set up [Nov. 19]. And we're really hoping to learn a lot more about it,” she said.
On Wednesday—after adding 7,925 cases—Florida cruised past 900,000 total coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic (88 new deaths were also reported, bringing the total to just under 18,000).
In Tampa Bay on Wednesday, 26 deaths were reported along with 1,286 new coronavirus cases (positivity rates in Hillsborough and Pinellas are at 7% and 6%, respectively). Unsurprisingly, the state’s positivity rate is at 9%, and yesterday St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman joined other Florida Mayors in begging Gov. Ron DeSantis to do something substantial to help curb the spread (the World Health Organization’s recommended level is 5%).
In a five-minute video released Nov. 19, Gov. Ron DeSantis said his goal is to make yet-to-be-approved COVID-19 vaccines available to Florida residents who voluntarily agree to get inoculated and that he hopes the vaccines will be available in the next three to six weeks.
UPDATED 11/23/20 2:32 p.m. Updated with comments from Dr. Seetha Lakshmi—Medical Director, Global Emerging Diseases Institute at USF Health and TGH Infectious Disease and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2020.
