Tampa General Nurse Receives 1st Coronavirus Vacccine

TAMPA BAY, FL — All eyes were on Tampa General Hospital coronavirus unit nurse Vanessa Arroyo, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's, as she prepared to receive the first coronavirus vaccine Monday.

The 31-year-old nurse didn't flinch as the needle pricked her upper arm.

"Vanessa has been working tirelessly on the front lines of COVID for the past nine months," said Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris as the nurse sat in the spotlight during the historic moment. "This is the first of 20,000 doses of hope, the beginning to the end. This is monumental, if you are sitting in our shoes caring for the patients that need us the most."

"Seeing the worst of the worst, I wanted to help the community, myself and my family," Arroyo said.

UF Health Jacksonville CEO Leon Haley became the first person in Jacksonville on Monday to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

All agreed to share their supply with other health systems in their regions.

Tampa General Hospital is one of a handful of hospitals that has the highly refrigerated unit needed to store the vaccine.

“Today, we will have shots going into arms,” said DeSantis, who signed the FedEx delivery that brought the doses to Tampa General. “This is a game-changer. It’s a great day for the United States; it’s a great day for the state of Florida.”

If all shipments come through as planned, the governor said Florida could have 1 million doses by the end of the year.

DeSantis said health care personnel around the state who work with high-risk patients and nursing home residents are first in line for the vaccine made by the Pfizer pharmaceutical giant. It received emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

This Thursday, the FDA is expected to authorize emergency use of another vaccine produced by the Moderna pharmaceutical company. DeSantis said Florida should get about 365,000 doses.

Tampa General, UF Health Jacksonville and Memorial Healthcare in Broward County each received shipments of around 20,000 doses Monday morning. Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and AdventHealth in Orlando will receive shipments Tuesday.

“That is going to continue to help serve our long-term care mission but also start, hopefully as the frontline health workers have this available, to start getting it out to the elderly population outside of long-term care facilities,” DeSantis said.

The state government, CVS and Walgreens are also receiving shipments this week which will support vaccination efforts at long-term care facilities.

Studies show that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95 percent effective.

“After 10 long months of responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic, today marks a significant turning point," Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association and former head of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration. "The first allocation of 179,400 vials of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Florida this week heralds not only a major scientific achievement but a beacon of hope on the horizon."

"As we get into potentially February you could be in a situation where there's going to be a vaccine available for people regardless of circumstances or health risks or age — probably not before that and maybe not quite at that point, but that is very possible,” DeSantis said.

Most health experts aren't projecting widespread availability until late spring or summer, even with other vaccines on the horizon.

While Dr. Charles Lockwood, TGH executive vice president and dean of the University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine, called the vaccine's arrival a "magic moment," he added that Floridians should not get complacent about coronavirus safety.

“Please keep wearing masks, socially distancing, avoiding large gatherings," Lockwood said. "We're almost there.”