Nearly 400,000 Doses Of The Moderna Vaccine Will Soon Be Arriving In Florida
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The Moderna vaccine is heading directly to hospitals like Jackson, UM Health, Baptist, Broward Health, Memorial Regional, and more.
Close to 370,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will soon be on the way to Florida.
Late Friday, Moderna was given emergency use authorization. The Feds say it's 94% effective and doesn't require the ultra-cold storage like the Pfizer vaccine.
CBS 4 spoke to the White House Deputy Communications Director who says don't get too comfortable yet since it's not widely available.
"Watch your distance, wear your mask, and wash your hands. It's time to be careful. We don't want to overwhelm the healthcare system," Brian Morgenstern said.
Vice President Pence and Second Lady Pence received the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine Friday. The White House wants to ease concerns from people who have doubts about the coronavirus vaccine authorization process.
"To signify their confidence that these vaccines are safe and effective. That we sped up the process, not by cutting any corners in terms of safety and the scientific process. But rather by investments," Morgenstern said.
Florida is set to receive 127,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine next week. That's close to half of what was originally expected. The White House says earlier numbers were based off estimates. That's why there is a slight change.
"Things are going as planned. When states get their weekly allocation of the actual doses available, we are able to order, then deliveries are going out as scheduled. Just a little bit of a difference from the initial estimate and the actual allocation," the White House spokesperson said.
Governor Ron DeSantis originally blamed Pfizer saying there were production problems. So did state leaders throughout the US. But the company hit back and denied it had any issues. A spokesperson says it shipped what the government asked for and there are millions of doses still at its warehouse. So, with more vaccines next week, the focus will still be on frontline workers and long-term care facilities.
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"We will have two vaccines in the market next week and shots in the arm. It's very exciting," Morgenstern said.
But as more shipments arrive, experts expect this will put us closer to lower hospital numbers and to a more normal life.
"By the time we get to several months into this year, we will have enough people protected that we can start thinking seriously about a return to normality." Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
The White House has a goal of February or early March for a vaccine that'll be widely available.
