AVENTURA, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he expects the state will see a modest increase in its COVID-19 vaccine shipment next week.
This week, DeSantis said the state received about 307,000 vaccine doses, up 40,000 from the week before.
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“We think that we are going to see another modest but important increase and that’s gonna allow us to do some more things and we’re looking forward to doing that,” DeSantis said.
It wasn’t clear exactly how many more doses of the highly coveted vaccine Florida will get next week, but during a press conference in Aventura, the governor said the state will move more doses to Miami, The Villages and other vaccination sites around the state.
Also next week, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, and other retailers are among the big-name companies in Florida expected to join Publix in getting COVID-19 vaccines out into senior citizens and others who qualify for a shot through a federal pharmacy program. But not all locations will get shots until there are adequate supplies.
“Those are tens of thousands of extra doses into each of those places on a weekly basis, we think, which is really good,” DeSantis said.
The Biden Administration announced Tuesday that 1 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive at pharmacies across the country as early as next week at 6,500 retail pharmacies. The push comes amid new urgency to speed vaccinations to prevent the spread of potentially more serious strains of the virus that has killed more than 448,000 Americans.
DeSantis said there will be announcements about the federal pharmacy program early next week.
Another phase of the state’s vaccine rollout has involved places of worship.
On Thursday, DeSantis was at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center for an “interfaith” vaccination event that distributed over 500 vaccines to senior members of the synagogue, members of the Islamic Center of Greater Miami and members of Trinity Church.
So far, DeSantis said the state has done 25 vaccine events at places of worship throughout the state and that’s vaccinated over 13,000 individuals. There are plans for more events in the coming weeks.