Scott Rivkees: ‘Pfizer 5’ will have COVID-19 vaccine next week

This May 4, 2020, file photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, shows the first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Image via AP.

Florida’s top public health official said Tuesday that five Florida hospitals could receive COVID-19 vaccinations as early as next week. Department of Health Secretary Scott Rivkees, who also serves as the state’s surgeon general, gave the update during a statewide call with hospitals administrators, according to executives on the phone call.

Pfizer Inc.’s COVID 19-vaccination will be sent to the state after the pharmaceutical company receives emergency use authorization from the federal government, which is expected to come after the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee meets Dec. 10. Referred to as the “Pfizer 5,” Broward Memorial, UF Health Jacksonville, Tampa General Hospital, Advent Health in Orlando, and Jackson Memorial in Miami will be the first Florida hospitals to receive the vaccine.

Four of the five facilities are members of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, a statewide hospital association. Justin Senior, the association’s CEO, told The News Service of Florida Monday night that his member hospitals don’t yet know the amount of Pfizer vaccines they will be receiving next week. But Senior said the expectation is that the hospitals will use the product to vaccinate front-line health-care workers.

“I do think that it’s possible — and certainly it seems like, talking to various officials — that seven to 10 days after this first shipment coming into five hospitals, (the federal government) will be able to expand significantly the number of hospitals with the vaccines. And it will be both the second wave of the Pfizer vaccine as well as potentially the Moderna vaccine,” Senior said.

Moderna also submitted a request for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The FDA vaccine advisory committee meets Dec. 17 to discuss Moderna’s request for emergency use authorization.

Rivkees was joined on Tuesday morning’s phone call by Agency for Health Care Administration Deputy Secretary Molly McKinstry. Though the statewide phone call was a public meeting with attendees advised to use a state toll-free phone number, it was not recorded, according to state Agency for Heatlh Care Administration spokeswoman Katie Strickland. Weems Hospital CEO David Weems confirmed Rivkees’ remarks to the News Service.

Rivkees’ update about the vaccine came as Gov. Ron DeSantis travelled to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to attend a White House summit with President Donald Trump to highlight the rollout of the vaccine.

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Republished with permission from The News Service of Florida.