Two Treasure Coast hospitals receive the Pfizer Covid vaccine
Treasure Coast, Fl (treasurecoast.com)- Two Treasure Coast hospitals have received COVID-19 vaccines meant for healthcare workers on the coronavirus pandemic’s front lines, health officials said Monday.
Cleveland Clinic Indian River and Cleveland Clinic Martin Health received their first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine Monday, according to spokesperson Scott Samples.
Indian River started giving injections Monday afternoon and Martin Health is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Samples said. Some caregivers traveled to the Weston hospital to get the vaccine Thursday, Samples said, but he did not have an exact number Monday.
On the Treasure Coast, 34 people received the first of two doses of the vaccine between Friday and Monday, including 16 in Martin County, 13 in St. Lucie County and 5 in Indian River County, according to Florida Department of Health’s new report that tracks injections by age, race, sex and county, but not by occupation.
Statewide, over 43,000 people have been immunized so far, state data shows. Over 31% of those — 13,638 people — are over the age of 55. And over 58% are white.
Over 10,000 people ages 35 to 44 have received the vaccine, more than any other age group, the data shows.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will be among a group of federal government health officials to receive the coronavirus vaccination on Tuesday.
Fauci will be joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, and front-line workers from the NIH. They will be getting vaccinated at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
They will be receiving the vaccine recently approved by Moderna, which began being administered to Americans on Monday after it received an emergency use authorization from the FDA late Friday. A clinical trial of the Moderna vaccine indicated it is 94% effective against the coronavirus. Those who are administered Pfizer’s vaccine are asked to return 21 days later for a booster.
The vaccine was one of two authorized by the FDA for emergency use. Earlier this month, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine received an emergency use authorization from the FDA. The vaccine will be the first of two shots. Those vaccinated with Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine will be asked to get a booster 28 days later.
Fauci has expressed optimism that getting the US to herd immunity through a coronavirus vaccine will begin allowing Americans to return to normal. Getting enough people vaccinated to allow for a return to normalcy, however, might not happen until well into 2021, Fauci has cautioned.
