Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the center Wednesday afternoon and witnessed a resident receiving the vaccine during a news conference. He said he believes Florida is the first state to administer vaccines in long-term care facilities. I think people should feel really optimistic about how this has gone, DeSantis said. This is one of the biggest logistics operations the country has ever had. It s gone really well initially.
The resident, 88-year-old Vera Leip, who taught elementary school in Ferguson, Missouri, for 40 years, said she was excited to get her shot.
“I hope it will help me from getting COVID,” she said. “I don’t know if it (the vaccines) will help or not. I hope they do. … I don’t know anything about it (the disease), but I would prefer not to have it.”
First COVID-19 vaccines given to Florida nursing home residents orlandosentinel.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from orlandosentinel.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vaccinations reach nursing homes as California faces crisis
Nurse Christine Philips, left, administers the Pfizer vaccine to Vera Leip, 88, a resident of John Knox Village, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Fla. Nursing home residents and health care workers in Florida began receiving the Pfizer vaccine this week. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Patricia Wasseman, holds Hermina Levin s hands as nurse Eva Diaz administers the Pfizer vaccine at John Knox Village, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Fla. Nursing home residents and health care workers in Florida began receiving the Pfizer vaccine this week. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Nurse Eva Diaz administers the Pfizer vaccine to Pam Peters a nurse practitioner at John Knox Village, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Fla. Nursing home residents and health care workers in Florida began receiving the Pfizer vaccine this week. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Vaccinations reach nursing homes; California faces surges of virus deaths
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2020, file photo, University of Washington Medical Center Montlake campus pharmacy administration resident Derek Pohlmeyer, left, and UWMC pharmacy director Michael Alwan transport a box containing Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines toward a waiting vehicle headed to the UW Medical Center s other hospital campuses in Seattle. (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times via AP, Pool, File)
by: ADAM GELLER and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press
Posted:
Dec 16, 2020 / 03:17 PM EST
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus has killed upwards of 110,000 people, even as the nation struggles to contain a surge so alarming that California is dispensing thousands of body bags and lining up refrigerated morgue trailers.