MIAMI – Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is expected to receive 325,000 new doses of vaccines this week, up from last week’s 307,000.
It’s a 22% increase in the number of vaccines the state was seeing at the beginning of the year with allotments of around 266,000 each week. DeSantis believes it’s going to help the demand of seniors still struggling to book a vaccine appointment.
“We are also are continuing to make more progress in terms of vaccine availability,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Miami Monday. “What is happening is as more and more seniors get the shot it softens the demand a little bit.”
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He also believes that demand will soften with the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program expected to expand in Florida this week. DeSantis said he expects a major announcement with Walmart.
He said Walmart may be a site for vaccines as early as this week. The doses will not come out of the state’s allocation as it will be even more coming indirectly from the federal government, according to DeSantis.
“These are doses that are over and above what the state’s allotment from the federal government is,” DeSantis said. “It doesn’t come out of our allocation, so we think that’s something that is really exciting.”
Walmart nor Winn-Dixie have announced which stores and which counties the companies will begin vaccinations at.
Central Floridians can expect some more information from the companies within days.
For Ana Fernandez, 80, she sent an email to News 6 in an attempt to get an appointment for her and her husband.
Fernadez and her husband have heart conditions.
“I have tried everything. You are my last hope,” she said. “They tell you ‘oh, they are coming, vaccines are here’ then when you try and when you ask for an appointment, no, sold out.”
Seniors may be first, they may not be fast enough.
“I can’t go out that much, you know, I’m afraid that I will get it,” she added.
“If we continue to get 300,000, if we do get Johnson and Johnson and more Pfizer and the Federal Retail Pharmacy program on top of all of this we will be in much better shape in terms of supply than we were a couple of weeks ago,” DeSantis added.