Earlier this month, the state set a goal to get the first dose of the vaccine to all of Florida’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities by the end of January. In an exclusive interview with Spectrum News, Jared Moskowitz, the Director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management says that mark has been met.  

Cait McVey: “Last time we spoke, you said the goal was to get the vaccine to all long-term care facilities by the end of the month. You’re actually a few days ahead of schedule?”

Jared Moskowitz: “All 3,000 ALFs and 1,000 nursing homes have all been visited by the state or CVS or Walgreens.  And if CVS or Walgreens has left somebody behind, we’ll make sure, of course, we’ll get to them as soon as possible.”

Cait McVey: “Are there going to be enough to get the second dose to all of these facilities on time?”

Jared Moskowitz: “As far as people who have gotten a first dose, you’re going to get a second dose. The federal government is sending second doses. So I’m not worried about that.”

Cait McVey: “A lot of people got the vaccine under the assumption that they’re going to be safe and can see their loved ones again. What’s it going to take?”

Jared Moskowitz: “Let’s just say sometime by early March I think we’ll be able to start looking at the data and hopefully what we see is drops in hospitalizations, drops of COVID in long-term care facilities, and a drop in the death rate. If we see those signs, which is what we hope to see, you know I think the Governor will examine the data and he’ll make a decision at that time.”

The effort to get the vaccine to nursing homes and assisted living facilities has been a joint effort with the state supplementing the federal partnership program with CVS and Walgreens. Moskowitz says there are a few facilities that were overlooked by those pharmacies, and the state is working to get them rescheduled.