TAMPA, Florida – The next two weeks of shipments of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer have been suspended.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said it’s a production problem with Pfizer that causes the delay.
“We were supposed to have enough for the second week, which is next week, 205,000, from Pfizer, and the following week 247,000,” DeSantis said. “Pfizer shipments for the next two weeks are pending right now. We don’t know if we will get any out of it or not, and we will have to wait. “
The doses Florida has received so far are already being administered and on Wednesday, AdventHealth Tampa will begin mass vaccinations for its front-line workers.
The hospital will vaccinate up to 300 front-line workers on Wednesday.
He has just received the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine from Tampa General Hospital, which is one of five hospitals in the state responsible for providing the vaccine to other hospitals.
Governor DeSantis said distributing the vaccine in this way is a test and so far it seems to be working. “All five hospitals help with other hospitals in the area. We were limited to five hospitals because they didn’t want them to go to 200 hospitals and then aggravate any mistakes. “
Tampa General received 19,500 doses of the vaccine Monday and AdventHealth is the first local hospital to receive the TGH drug.
AdventHealth formed an internal working group to create one of the first mass vaccination sites in the state for health workers.
Governor DeSantis said that by vaccinating front-line workers, it prevents a large number of health workers from having to isolate themselves due to exposure to the virus.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is expected to have FDA emergency use clearance later this week, which will provide an additional 370,000 doses to the state in the first round.