SWFL prepares to receive COVID-19 vaccine

While FDA approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine hangs in the balance, Southwest Florida is gearing up to receive it.

We learned more Friday about what the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine will look like in the region.

Charlotte County is keeping a close eye as COVID-19 cases climb.

“This is the last 14 days. We’ve had 30 hospitalized and 816 cases,” said Joseph Pepe, the administrator for Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. “So really big numbers the last couple of weeks.”

Hope is on the horizon in the form of Pfizer’s vaccine for COVID-19.

“We fully anticipate it being approved today,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “That will then unlock the ability to start receiving shipments of the vaccine.”

Charlotte County is preparing to receive it.

“The Florida Division of Emergency Management’s purchased, I think, at least five dry ice making machines that will augment and allow for longer storage of those prepackaged Pfizer vaccines,” said Patrick Fuller, the emergency management director of Charlotte County.

“There are some refrigerators that are available for the ultra-cold storage and things like that, so we do have some opportunities there should we need to move in that direction,” Pepe said.

Even with dry ice and freezers, there are still challenges to be worked out.

“It really doesn’t lend itself to a mass vaccination type site,” Pepe said.

“The 15-minute mandatory waiting period, it was new for us,” said Chad Nielsen, the director of infection prevention at UF Health in Jacksonville. “We don’t do that for flu or any other type of vaccine. We have to do it for this. So that causes space requirements that causes, you know, just other logistical concerns that we’ve had to work our way through.”

UF Health in Jacksonville is one of the first facilities in Florida to receive the vaccine. There, Neilsen says his team is working through those problems now and plans to share their solution. When vaccines come to Southwest Florida, health professional here will be ready.

“At the end of the day, we’re all in this together,” Neilsen said. “We’re not competing with other organizations like a business perspective. We really are in this for the health care workers, for the patients.”

Charlotte County leaders discussed working with community partners, including fire, EMS, the department of health and schools to help with vaccination efforts.

Lee Health keeps tabs on vaccine rollout