Two hospitals in South Florida will distribute COVID-19 vaccines
DORAL, FL – Two hospitals in South Florida are among the five in Florida chosen to distribute a vaccine against the coronavirus in the comings weeks.
These are Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, according to an information circulating Wednesday.
NBC 6 South Florida reported that Jackson Memorial will distribute a limited supply of the Pfizer vaccine in mid-December, while it will also buy equipment to store the vaccines in the correct way such as special freezers.
As for the vaccine that will be provided by Memorial Regional Hospital, it is still unknown if they will use the Moderna or Pfizer one, but the hospital confirmed they will follow CDC guidelines to administer the shots.
It should be noted the vaccines won’t be accessible for the general public initially. Only frontline health care workers, long-term care staff and residents, and first responders would receive the shorts during the first stage of distribution.
Jackson Health confirmed they completed the proper registration to be eligible for participation in the Florida Shots Program.
In an interview with Channel 7 News Miami, Dr. Thomas Macaluso of Memorial Regional said only 1 million Floridians will receive the first doses.
“We have our plans for where we will administer and how. We have trained vaccinators,” he said. “I think it gives us hope that things will turn for the better.”
The other three hospitals involved in the vaccine’s distribution are located in Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.
Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine was 95% effective against COVID-19, while Moderna revealed its preliminary phase three trial data shows its vaccine is more than 94% effective.
The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford, on the other hand, has also shown remarkable results proving to be highly effective in the elderly.
Some reporters claim the vaccine was 99% effective in the volunteers older than 55 years old that received the first shots.