AdventHealth now offering COVID vaccine to Volusia public safety workers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Starting Wednesday, AdventHealth will be administering the COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of Volusia County public safety workers.

AdventHealth says it’s taking it one step at a time, starting with vaccinating nearly 1,000 public safety workers over the next 3 days.

"They come into contact with the public much in the same way as we do at the hospital and so they’re not always able to protect themselves," said Dr. Joe Smith with AdventHealth Daytona Beach.

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Volusia County deputies, police officers, firefighters, and animal control staff are signed up to get the Pfizer vaccine. AdventHealth is offering it to county first responders now that all hospital staff have been vaccinated.

Dr. Joe Smith says it's able to do this because AdventHealth got nearly 4 times more vaccines in its first shipment than expected -- nearly 20,000 doses -- and more vaccines are coming in.

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"There are some instructions on kind of what to do with our allotments. And so, you know, we've shared with other facilities and so our mandate and our mission has taken us to the first responders."

AdventHealth says there are no more open spots for first responders this week, but there’s a chance the vaccine could be offered again to this group and others like people over 65-years-old and patients with immune disorders.