Tampa General Hospital

Broward Health Medical Center is part of the North Broward Hospital District, which decided this week to hire Shane Strum, Gov. DeSantis’ chief of staff, as its CEO.

On the "Florida Roundup," host Melissa Ross spoke with Dr. Jason Wilson, associate director of Tampa General Hospital’s emergency department about his experience with the Pfizer vaccine.

Recent surveys have shown a large percentage of Americans don't plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine because they don't trust it, are afraid of getting sick, or aren't concerned with the virus.

Now that the state has received initial shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, health workers and long-term care residents are starting to get their shots. More doses from Moderna could arrive in the state as soon as next week.

Gov. DeSantis said he thought HHS, which signed an agreement with Pfizer, would allocate based on states’ so-called at-risk populations. Instead, he said the feds “basically did it on a population basis.”

Tampa General Hospital is expected to begin distributing the first Pfizer vaccine doses early next week. The first shipments are expected by Dec. 15.

Pfizer's vaccine will be sent to five state hospitals after receiving emergency use authorization from the FDA, which is expected to come after an advisory committee meets Thursday.

The vaccine stored will be whichever is approved first, possibly the candidate from Pfizer, which is expected to ask the FDA for emergency approval on Friday,

The safety plan was developed with the guidance of a team from Tampa General Hospital.

More recently, the team of disease prevention experts worked with the Florida Senate to reduce the spread of the coronavirus as lawmakers return to the Capitol.