J&J vaccine shortage cuts Florida supply next week
Florida’s weekly allotment of vaccines for COVID-19 from the federal government will take a big hit from this week’s record numbers after a major reduction in the one-dose Johnson & Johnson supply, but the state will still be getting more than 500,000 initial doses from either Moderna and Pfizer.
After getting more than 300,000 doses of the J&J vaccine this week, Florida is only in line to receive 37,000 the week of April 12, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday.
The drug maker was relying on a supply buildup to satisfy the federal government’s order from a U.S. manufacturing plant run by Emergent BioSolutions, but a mixup at the plant forced Johnson & Johnson to throw out 15 million doses. The Biden administration on Saturday announced it was placing J&J in charge of the plant, and the company has said it will be able to meet its vaccine targets in the future.
The Moderna supply for the week remains at 217,400 initial doses while the Pfizer supply is increasing slightly to 293,670. The Pfizer and Moderna allotment include an equal number of second doses.
Combining the J&J shots and first doses of the other two vaccines, the state will be getting 548,070 doses, usually delivered from Monday-Wednesday each week. That number is down from this week’s combined record allotment of 817,250, a decrease of 269,180.
The state allotment is being augmented by the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, which delivers directly to Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie, CVS and Walgreens locations. In addition, the federal government is the source for the state’s four Federal Emergency Management Agency sites set up for mass-vaccination
PAUL SANCYA/AP FILE in Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami.
On Monday, Florida began allowing anyone 18 and older to receive any of the three vaccines, and those 16 and older to get the Pfizer option since that brand has been approved for that younger age group.
The state initially limited vaccines to those 65 and older before lowering it to 60 and up on March 15, 50 and up on March 22 and 40 and up on March 29. The Biden administration announced Tuesday that nationwide the deadline to make all adults eligible for the vaccine has been been moved up to April 19.
This is the first week with a major drop in supply after 10 straight weeks with significant jumps in the state’s allotment. In January, the state was only receiving about 265,000 initial doses a week.
The federal government was also responsible for supplying CVS and Walgreens for a program to vaccinate the residents and staff at nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
To date, Florida has received or is slated to receive a total of 13,332,040 doses between Pfizer and Moderna in addition to the 696,400 J&J doses. That’s enough to vaccinate 7,362,420 people. The state has a population of 21.5 million.
It has doled them out to hospital systems, county health departments, staterun drive-throughs and the Publix partnership among other options.
Statewide, 6,630,107 people have received at least one vaccination shot including 3,914,250 who have completed their shot regimen, whether it’s the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna option or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The count is a snapshot through Tuesday, based on the report released Wednesday.
Of those who have received at least the first dose, 3,430,330 are over the age of 65.
A detailed breakdown of who has been vaccinated so far can be found here.
As far as where the doses of the state allocation of vaccines are going, the state maintains information by county and by vaccine type where it intends to ship its allotment.
For the week of April 4, the state was set to distribute 17,440 doses to Lake County, 87,660 to Orange, 8,250 to Osceola and 13,430 to Seminole.
Statewide, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies will each receive 50,310 Pfizer doses and Publix pharmacies will receive 55,000 of the state’s Moderna doses — the retail pharmacy allocations have been the same for each of the past eight weeks. The state’s list does not include doses the federal government will distribute directly through its retail partners including Publix, Walmart, WinnDixie and CVS.
The state has yet to announce its distribution plans for the week of April 11.