AdventHealth and Orlando Health are gearing up to vaccinate their high-risk employees once a COVID-19 vaccine is approved, following the national and state guidelines that give highest priority to front-line health workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
When the vaccine is approved, “we will begin the thoughtful and orderly process to invite physicians, clinical staff and other team members susceptible to the highest risk of exposure based on their work with and in close proximity to COVID-19 patients to be among the first to receive the vaccine,” AdventHealth officials wrote to the staff in an internal email on Thursday.
At first, AdventHealth will not offer the vaccine to employees who don’t meet the guidelines or the general public.
AdventHealth Orlando will be among the first hospitals in Florida to receive and store the coronavirus vaccine, although there’s no set delivery date and the quantity of the shipment is also unknown, officials said.
Orlando Health, which is not among the first five Florida hospitals scheduled to receive a vaccine shipment, is also ready.
“Orlando Health has the capacity to store and distribute both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and we are operationally prepared to begin vaccination once a vaccine is approved and distributed,” said Dr. George Ralls, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Orlando Health, in a statement.
A COVID-19 vaccine is expected to become available by mid-December, following an FDA meeting next week to discuss emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine. Another vaccine-maker, Moderna, has also applied for emergency use authorization and is expected to receive approval in the coming weeks.
AdventHealth expects to receive the Pfizer vaccine initially.
The vaccines help the body build immunity against the coronavirus. The vaccines do not cause COVID-19 infection. If someone has been previously infected with the virus, they can still get the vaccine, according to current guidelines, said Dr. Victor Herrera, associate chief medical officer and infectious disease specialist at AdventHealth Orlando, during a Facebook Live event on Thursday.
“We know from preliminary studies that there have not been reports of serious adverse events with the vaccine,” said Herrera.
The vaccine from both companies requires two doses, given one month apart.
Health officials continue to stress that the new vaccine is safe, even though the process has been sped up.
“Extensive clinical trials were conducted with thousands of participants to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine and generate scientific data and other information for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine its safety and effectiveness,” AdventHealth said in a statement. “Additionally, AdventHealth’s COVID-19 Vaccine Scientific Review Committee, as an independent committee, reviewed the process which evaluated the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.”
The vaccine won’t be available to the public right away. Both federal and state guidelines have so far prioritized health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities during the first phase of vaccine role-out because of limited supply.
“The reason for that is you need those health-care workers to continue to take care of COVID-19 patients, especially if there’s a surge,” said Herrera. “There is also recommendation to start with residents from long-term care facilities, because of also their very high risk.”
Experts predict the general population will started receiving the vaccine as early as spring.
Gov. Ron DeSantis released a video on Wednesday night, outlining Florida’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, prioritizing three groups: residents of long-term care facilities, health care workers in high-risk environments and people 65 and older along with those with pre-existing medical conditions.
“In Florida, we want to get as much vaccine for our citizens as possible, but we know we will not, nor will any state, have enough to vaccinate everyone right off the bat,” DeSantis said in the video. “So we’ve had to set priorities.”
Until the vaccine is available widely — and the majority of the public is vaccinated against COVID-19 — it’s important to wear masks, practice physical distancing and hand washing, health officials stress.
“We know that at this point we’re experiencing COVID fatigue, but it’s very important that we go back to those basic behaviors that we know work,” said Herrera.
AdventHealth has partnered with more than 100 other health systems across the country in a public campaign about the importance of wearing masks at EveryMaskUp.com.
nmiller@orlandosentinel.com.