First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccination Arrive at Florida Hospitals

What to Know

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were delivered to three Florida Hospitals on Monday
Memorial Regional in Broward, Tampa General Hospital and UF Health in Jacksonville were the first to receive the doses, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said
DeSantis said Jackson Memorial in Miami and Advent Health in Orlando will receive their initial share of the vaccine on Tuesday

The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccinations have arrived in Florida and will be administered Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered to Memorial Regional in Broward, Tampa General Hospital and UF Health in Jacksonville, DeSantis said at a news conference at the Tampa hospital.

"This is a really really significant milestone in terms of combatting the coronavirus pandemic," the governor said. "This is a game changer."

DeSantis said Jackson Memorial in Miami and Advent Health in Orlando will receive their initial share of the vaccine on Tuesday.

The vaccines will first go to health care workers and people in nursing homes.

During Monday's news conference, a 31-year-old nurse at Tampa General became the first to receive the vaccine.

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"Today we will have shots going in arms, we will have health care workers getting vaccinated much sooner than anybody would have anticipated just six months ago," DeSantis said.

NBC 6 has team coverage as the vaccine, approved late Friday night, will get a chance to be distributed in the fight against the coronavirus.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Memorial Healthcare officials said they received 19,500 doses of the vaccine which will go to frontline healthcare workers.

"Now, for the first time we're seeing light at the end of the tunnel," Memorial Healthcare CEO and President Aurelio Fernandez said.

DeSantis said nearly 100,000 doses will be at the five hospital systems by Tuesday morning. About 60,000 doses will go to Walgreens and CVS to vaccinate people in long-term care facilities.

The second round of the doses will be administered in three weeks, DeSantis said.

DeSantis said the state has an order for more Pfizer vaccines that he hopes will be fulfilled soon. He also said if the Moderna vaccine is approved, around 365,000 doses could be in Florida as early as next week.

Between 700,000 and 750,000 doses could be available in the state in December, DeSantis said.

The United States began its rollout of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday. Hear from health leaders across the country as frontline workers began receiving their vaccinations.