Florida DOH Says It Can't Get Enough Vaccine To Meet Demand

FLORIDA — On Friday, after receiving 10,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, Pinellas County opened registrations for residents age 65 and older at 10 a.m. An hour and a half later, the county announced that all appointments had been claimed.

It's the same story in nearly all of Florida's 67 counties. The moment the vaccine arrives, it's gone, leaving thousands of senior citizens agonizing over their inability to get vaccinated.

"Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine is far in excess of the supply the state has received so far," State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees said.

Rivkees assured residents not to worry. More vaccine is on its way to Florida. But the demand nationwide has health officials worried about the pharmaceutical companies' ability to manufacture enough of this liquid gold.

Operation Warp Speed chief operating officer, Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna, said pharma companies Moderna and Pfizer distributed about 7.9 million doses of vaccine the week after the federal Food and Drug Administration OK'd the drug companies' emergency approvals.

Pfizer estimates that it has the ability to supply 200 million doses of the vaccine annually. However, the company is distributing the vaccine to 165 countries.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Friday, 31,161,075 doses of the vaccine from the two pharma companies have been distributed across the United States with 12,279,180 people receiving at least one dose and 1,610,524 receiving their second dose.

At the current rate of distribution, it would take more than two years to vaccinate all Americans.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is concentrating on vaccinating permanent and part-time residents age 65 and older, and is urging patience as counties work out the most effective distribution methods.

However, Florida isn't on the top of the nation's list to receive the vaccine, according to the CDC. That honor goes to Maine, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, West Virgina, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana.

All these states have received more than 4,001 doses of vaccine per 100,000 people.

Florida and 19 other states including Massachusetts, Missouri and Pennsylvania have received 3,001 to 4,000 doses per 100,000 people.

The CDC said 2,069,175 total doses (or 9,634 doses per 100,000 people) have been distributed in Florida so far.

Courtesy the CDC

In the meantime, Florida's positivity rate rose from 8.63 percent to 10.17 percent with 14,432 positive cases on Wednesday and 16,549 positive cases on Thursday.

That puts the total number of cases since the pandemic began at 1,548,067 cases (about one in every 14 people have tested positive) with 67,463 hospitalized and 24,169 deaths.

See related stories:

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• Hillsborough County To Take Coronavirus Vaccines To Those In Need
• Hillsborough County Hopes To Draw Up Plan To Vaccinate Teachers