Seminole County hopes to start distributing COVID-19 booster shots on Tuesday

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - The COVID-19 booster shot was approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) days ago for people who are immunocompromised but now comes the process of actually getting the booster shots out to people.

Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris is hoping to start distributing the third shot starting on Tuesday, but he says he needs more guidance from the state on what is needed to get the shot.

"We are still waiting for the State of Florida to identify exactly how that will be done. Is it a prescription? Is it a doctor's note? Is it just a self-proclamation? We just don't know yet," he said.

Harris explained to FOX 35 that the county has been getting a lot of messages from immunocompromised people wanting the shot due to concerns over the Delta variant.

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Dr. Daniel Landau, with the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, said that he's also had high interest to get the shot for his patients.

"It's important that we take patients who have that poor functioning immune system and bring them to a protection level closer to the general population," the doctor said.

The FDA said the booster is for certain immunocompromised people, like someone who has had an organ transplant.

"There's been a lot of interest among our patients, but it's still not our entire patient population who are candidates for this. A large number of our patients have very well-functioning immune systems and there's still a fair amount of data that the two shots of Moderna, or two shots of Pfizer or just one J&J (Johnson & Johnson) and still very effective even against this very difficult to control Delta variant," Dr. Landau added.

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Harris said that he's hoping they will be able to administer this third dose to those who need it most.

"The more shots we provide as boosters for this segment of the population, the fewer hospitalizations we have and the more lives can be saved," he said.

The third booster shot is just approved for those who received the Moderna and Pfizer shots, not the J&J vaccine.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.