What Snowstorms? Pharmaceutical Distributors Deny Vaccine Delays

TAMPA, FL — The Healthcare Distribution Alliance is disputing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' claims that coronavirus vaccine supplies have been held up by snowstorms in the Northern states.

According to a news release issued by the HDA, McKesson Corp. CEO Brian Tyler said his company is on target to distribute all the vaccines ordered by the U.S. government.

Following the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use of Moderna's vaccine on Dec. 18, Tyler said McKesson, one of the largest drug distribution companies in the country, began picking, packing and shipping vaccines within 48 hours. In the two months since, Tyler said the company has distributed more than 25 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to sites around the country.

“From a distribution perspective, we remain on target to meet the government's plan to distribute hundreds of millions of refrigerated and frozen vaccines," Tyler said.

Paul Dickson Jr., CEO of national pharmaceutical distributor Morris & Dickson Co., said the distribution bottleneck that health care officials feared hasn't materialized.

"Every pharmacy in America has what they need in less than 12 hours," said Dickson. "So getting the vaccine distributed through the wholesale supply chain of pharmaceuticals is not a bottleneck at all."

Pharmaceutical provider AmerisourceBergen CEO Steve Collis agreed.

"The distribution — meaning the physical logistics of getting COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers to states — has been a success," he said.

DeSantis has been criticized about the state's distribution of vaccines to counties in recent weeks with county officials complaining the rollout hasn't been what the state promised. As a result, county officials say they've been unfairly villainized for not distributing vaccines quickly enough.

"We've been disappointed with the supply over the last two months," Dr. Douglas Holt, director of the Hillsborough County Department of Health, said. "It's clearly going to take a while; it's going to take months to vaccinate all eligible seniors."

Additionally, DeSantis has been accused of playing politics with vaccines by diverting them to pop-up clinics in large, planned communities built by wealthy developers and political supporters including Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County where rock legend Mick Jagger just purchased a home and massive retirement community, The Villages, in Sumter County.

During a news conference at Lakewood Ranch, DeSantis lashed out, saying, “If Manatee County doesn’t like us doing this, we are totally fine with putting this (the clinic) in counties that want it.

“If there’s going to be folks that are going to complain about getting more vaccines, you know, I’ll tell you what, I mean, I wouldn’t be complaining, I’d be thankful that we’re able to do it because, you know what, we didn’t need to do this at all,” DeSantis said.

In a statement released Wednesday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz blasted DeSantis for threatening to take Manatee County's vaccines elsewhere.

“To threaten that he would pull vaccine if people don’t like the way the distribution system is working is vile and shows the callous indifference he has had in how the vaccine has been handled,” she said.

On Thursday, DeSantis quieted detractors by hosting the latest pop-up vaccination clinic at the Mainlands of Tamarac seniors community in Pinellas Park, a modest residential community developed in the 1970s.

According to state health department officials, the vaccines administered at the pop-up clinics are in addition to the supply of vaccines distributed to each county.

As of Thursday, 1,856,427 Floridians tested positive for the coronavirus with 77,408 people hospitalized and 30,214 deaths since the pandemic started.

During the past week, the number of those testing positive was less than half of those who tested positive at the state's most recent peak on Dec. 29 when 14,690 tested positive.

• Feb. 18 - 6,652 positive cases
• Feb. 17 - 5,052 positive cases
• Feb. 16 - 7,222 positive cases

This gives the state a current positivity rate of 5.85 percent, among the lowest Florida has had during the past six months.

In addition, the number of deaths has been steadily declining throughout January and February.

The state reported three deaths Thursday, 12 on Wednesday and 29 on Tuesday, compared to 188 deaths on Dec. 22.

Florida Deaths

Florida Positivity Rate

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