Governor Says 1st Vaccines Will Go To Nursing Home Patients

FLORIDA — As Floridians mourn loved ones lost to the coronavirus on a daily basis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a couple of glimmers of hope.

The FDA announced it has scheduled a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Dec. 10 to discuss the request for emergency use authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine created by the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer Inc.

Then, on Dec. 17, the advisory committee is scheduled to come to the table again to review an emergency use authorization for a vaccine created by the pharmaceutical company, Moderna Inc.

Both companies say their vaccines are 95 percent effective and have no serious side effects. But the ultimate decision to release the vaccines to the public rests with the FDA.

FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said his agency is doing everything possible to approve the vaccines as quickly as possible without skipping necessary steps or sacrificing the safety of the public.

The advisory committee is made up of outside science and public health experts from around the country along with a consumer and industry professional.

"Additional experts may be added for individual meetings as needed," Hahn said. "Although the VRBPAC members provide advice to the agency, which may include advice on the safety and effectiveness data submitted in the EUA request, final decisions on whether to authorize the vaccine for emergency use are made by the FDA."

To ensure full transparency, Hahn said the committee meetings will be livestreamed on the FDA's Youtube, Facebook and Twitter channels and will be webcast on the FDA website.

“The FDA understands there is tremendous public interest regarding vaccines for COVID-19. We remain committed to keeping the public informed about the evaluation of the data of a potential COVID-19 vaccine so that, once available, the public and the medical community can have trust and confidence in receiving the vaccine for our families and ourselves," he said.

He added that the FDA will make all studies and reports on the vaccines available to the public and the public will be given an opportunity to submit comments, which will be reviewed by the FDA.

In anticipation of the FDA's approval of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has outlined a distribution plan that gives priority to residents in long-term care facilities, at-risk populations and high-risk front-line workers.

"Of course, we want to get as much vaccine for our citizens as possible, but we know we will not, nor will any state, have enough to vaccinate everyone right off the bat," said DeSantis Wednesday. "So, we've had to set priorities."

Based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DeSantis said the first doses of vaccine will go to:

1. People in long-term care facilities
2. High-risk frontline health care workers
3. Those 65 and up and anyone with significant comorbidities

Click here to read Florida's draft COVID-19 vaccination plan.

He stressed that residents will have to be patient, noting that vaccinations against coronavirus require two doses of vaccine to be effective. That could mean residents will have to wait until February before there are enough doses of the vaccine for widespread distribution.

"Distributing a vaccine across a large and diverse state is a big challenge, but this is a major priority for the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

He added that no one will be forced to get vaccinated.

In the past month, Florida's positivity rate has fluctuated between 6.21 percent and 10.13 percent. As of Thursday, the positivity rate was 7.49 percent.

Florida's Positivity Rate

Courtesy FDOH

After hitting the milestone Wednesday of one million total positive cases, the FDOH reported 9,987 new positive cases Thursday and nine more deaths.

Thursday's FDOH dashboard showed a total of 1,039,207 positive cases of coronavirus in Florida since the pandemic was declared and 19,236 deaths.

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau's total population for the state of 21.48 million people, that means 1 in 20 people in the state have tested positive for the virus and one in 1,116 people in Florida have died from the coronavirus.

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