12/30/2020

Governor Ron DeSantis, Hospital CEOs Announce Distribution Plan for Weekly COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation and Recognize Statewide Progress on Vaccine Distribution

Governor Ron DeSantis announced the State of Florida's distribution plan for this week's allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Governor also recognized statewide progress on vaccine distribution.

"Thanks to our state's strong partnership with the federal government and Florida hospitals, more than 146,000 individuals have been vaccinated in Florida, including front-line health care workers, staff and residents of long-term care facilities and individuals 65 and older," said Governor DeSantis. “This week, Florida will receive over 120,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and will distribute these doses to hospitals and county health departments that have not previously received the vaccine. As a result, all 67 Florida counties will have received doses of the vaccine by the end of the week. Florida is also receiving over 118,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to begin administering the second dose of this vaccine at the original five pilot hospitals.”

This week, Florida is preparing to receive 127,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine. 93,900 doses of the vaccine will be distributed to the county health departments that have not previously received doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The remaining 33,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be sent to 54 hospitals that had not previously received the COVID-19 vaccine. With these allocations, all 67 Florida counties will have vaccine doses by the end of the week. Find the full list of hospitals that have received the vaccine HERE.

Additionally, this week, Florida is expecting to receive 118,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will be used to administer the second dose at the original five pilot hospitals, and long-term care facilities in Broward and Pinellas Counties who received their first dose through Florida Department of Health and Florida National Guard strike teams.

Hospital partners have been a critical part of this vaccination effort to date and hospital CEOs are sharing tremendous progress within their communities.

“Governor DeSantis has shown tremendous leadership on getting the vaccine out into our community quickly,” said Carlos A. Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System. “By having a Governor who plans ahead and gives us clear direction on priorities, we have already provided the first shot to all frontline staff who want the vaccine and we are beginning to schedule appointments for Jackson patients and other Miami-Dade residents 65 and older. We look forward to continuing this great work in South Florida as we stop COVID-19 together.”

“First and foremost, I want to thank Governor DeSantis for his commitment to getting the vaccine in the arms of the health care workers who have been on the front lines of COVID-19 in 2020,” said Memorial Healthcare System President and CEO, Aurelio M. Fernandez, III, FACHE. “At Memorial, we already have vaccinated a high percentage of our hospital staff, as well as our health care partners in the community. With Governor DeSantis at the helm of this response, I know Florida will serve as a national model for administering the COVID-19 vaccine.”

On behalf of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, we are eternally grateful to Governor DeSantis and his leadership team for the quick deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in our community,” said Mark O’Bryant, President & CEO of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. “We received 6,700 doses which allowed us to expand our distribution plans beyond our colleagues to include physician practices, community clinics and other healthcare partners, as well as our neighboring rural hospitals.” “Deploying the vaccine as quickly as possible to those who need it most will, most importantly, save lives, but it also grants us the hope of a world free of COVID-19.”

“We appreciate the Governor’s leadership in directing the Agency for Healthcare Administration, State Department of Health, and Florida Division of Emergency Management to work with local leaders, hospitals, and pharmacies to undertake this incredible logistical challenge,” said Dr. Larry Antonucci, President & CEO of Lee Health. “The partnership has been phenomenal and we are pleased to have already vaccinated 1,500 of our frontline health care workers. We look forward to continued collaborative efforts with the Governor’s office and state agencies to vaccinate our community against the COVID-19 virus.”

“Prioritizing healthcare workers is an essential step in ending the pandemic and we applaud Gov. DeSantis for the great strides he and his team are making to ensure our frontline caregivers have the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Debra Stockton, Vice President of Quality and Emergency Operations Center Lead for HCA Healthcare North Florida Division. “We have been encouraged by the outpouring of interest from our healthcare colleagues in receiving the vaccine. At this time, more than 16,000 HCA Healthcare colleagues across the state of Florida have received the vaccine and we expect that number to continue to climb. We look forward to continuing to work with the State of Florida to receive additional vaccine distributions to ensure all patient care teams and those colleagues who support them have the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as an added measure to protect themselves and others.”

From the beginning, the Governor prioritized frontline health care workers as well as residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Florida’s week one allocation was split among front line workers at 5 pilot hospitals and residents and staff at long term care facilities through activation of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.

Agency for Health Care Administration Emergency Rule 59AER20-015 and Emergency Rule 59AER20-014 required all Nursing Homes (NHs) and Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) to enroll in the Federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program no later than 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, December 3, 2020. Through this program we have successfully enrolled 98% of all ALFs.

In addition to the ongoing LTC Pharmacy Program, Florida continues to prioritize our vulnerable elderly population and expand vaccinations of those 65 and older through community led vaccinations.

Floridians are also encouraged to opt-in to receive updates about the COVID-19 vaccine via text. Floridians can receive these text updates by texting FLCOVID19 to 888777.