With large elderly population, Gov. DeSantis wanted extra COVID-19 vaccines

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was hoping for a million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as the FDA approved it for emergency use for the Sunshine State. 

Pfizer wasn’t able to produce as much of the coronavirus vaccine as was originally estimated.  Gov. DeSantis had hoped Florida would have received more supplies than other states due to the large population and the number of elderly who live here.   The feds opted not to divvy the vaccine out that way.  

“Look, if could get double, I would get double,” Gov. DeSantis said. 

MORE NEWS: COVID-19 Vaccine: Your Questions Answered on FOX 35

He has been in Washington D.C. a handful of times recently lobbying to get Florida as many vaccines as possible.

“I thought because we have more elderly population we should not just be population, we should be underlying demographics. They basically just did it on a population basis but we’re going to fight for as much as we can,” DeSantis reiterated. 

In the first shipment of vaccines, Florida will be receiving 179,400 doses in total.  Of that, 81,900 doses are being sent to CVS and Walgreens to administer to patients at long-term care facilities.  The other 97,500 does are being distributed to five separate hospital systems. 

“We’ve been told it could come as early as Monday or Tuesday -- 20,000 doses for AdventHealth Orlando, so AdventHealth Altamonte is part of the system, so they would be the first doses. CVS and Walgreens will receive 60,000.  We do not know if CVS and Walgreens have Seminole County as one of the priorities for them. We have already made a request,” Alan Harris, Seminole County’s Emergency Management Director told FOX 35 News. 

MORE NEWS: American Airlines offering at-home coronavirus testing to all passengers

While week one’s allotments have already been assigned, for week two Harris said Florida should receive anywhere from 300,000 vaccines to 500,000 vaccines. 

“We’ve asked for those to come here directly to our strike team so we can start going into ALS and nursing homes,” Harris explained.

Depend on FOX 35 News to keep you up to date on the latest developments on the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.