DeSantis announces where Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered in Florida
TAMPA, Fla. - Florida is ready to receive 367,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which recently received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
On Sunday, the first doses of the Moderna vaccine left a factory in Tennessee to be distributed at hospitals across the country.
According to Governor Ron DeSantis, the vaccine will be distributed to 173 hospitals in Florida, including nearly 50 in the Tampa Bay area. Since the Moderna vaccine does not require the same ultra-cold storage as the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, it can be delivered to more hospitals. DeSantis says the Moderna vaccine will be available in 43 counties in the state.
Like the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna’s clinical trials showed it to be 94% effective at protecting against coronavirus. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine requires a second follow-up dose and each vaccine has its own narrow window of time for a patient to get that second dose.
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Moderna’s vaccine uses the same groundbreaking technology as Pfizer-BioNTech’s shot. Most traditional vaccines use a dead or weakened virus, but both of the new vaccines use snippets of COVID-19’s genetic code to train the immune system to detect and fight the virus.
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In a video statement, DeSantis said as Florida gets more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, he wants to get it out to elderly residents and those with significant underlying health issues. He added that while the state strongly encourages residents to get the vaccine there will not be a mandate requiring it.
A full list of Florida hospitals receiving the vaccine can be found here. Bay Area hospitals to receive the Moderna vaccine include:
- Adventhealth Carrollwood
- Adventhealth Dade City
- Adventhealth Heart of Florida
- Adventhealth Lake Wales
- Adventhealth North Pinellas
- Adventhealth Sebring
- Adventhealth Tampa
- Adventhealth Wauchula
- Adventhealth Wesley chapel
- Adventhealth Zephyrhills
- Bartow Regional Medical Center
- Bayfront Health St. Petersburg
- Blake Medical Center
- Citrus Memorial Hospital
- Doctors Hospital of Sarasota
- Encompass health rehabilitation hospital of Sarasota
- H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital
- Highlands Regional Medical Center
- Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
- Lakeland Regional Medical Center
- Lakeside Medical Center
- Lakewood Ranch Medical Center
- Largo Medical Center
- Manatee Memorial Hospital
- Mease Countryside Hospital
- Mease Dunedin Hospital
- Medical Center of Trinity
- Morton Plant Hospital
- Morton Plant North Bay Hospital
- Northside Hospital
- Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point
- Sarasota Memorial Hospital
- South Bay Hospital
- South Florida Baptist Hospital
- Springbrook Hospital
- St. Anthony’s Hospital
- St. Joseph’s Hospital
- St. Joseph’s Hospital-North
- St. Joseph’s Hospital-South
- St. Petersburg General Hospital
- Tampa Community Hospital- A Campus of Memorial Hospital of Tampa
- Winter Haven Hospital
If you feel sick:
The Florida Department of Health has opened a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions around the clock. Questions may also be emailed to covid-19@flhealth.gov. Email responses will be sent during call center hours.
LINK: Florida's COVID-19 website
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