Getting her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine meant a lot to Lelia Clark, 77. She is one of the 55,916 Black people who have been vaccinated in Florida as of Wednesday, compared to 710, 885 white people.
Lelia Clark, 77, sat smiling in her car on a recent morning at the Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds in Plant City.
Clark, a resident of the nearby historic African-American neighborhood Bealsville, had just received her first dose of a coronavirus vaccine at the drive-through site run by Hillsborough County.
She had arrived an hour ahead of her appointment to try to get farther up in the line of hundreds of people eagerly waiting for their shots, and was parked in the monitoring area where people linger to make sure they respond to the vaccine smoothly.
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During a virtual town hall, titled “The Black and Brown Race and COVID-19 Vaccine,” hosted by the Sarasota NAACP, local doctors talked of their own experiences with the vaccine and particular risks of COVID-19 complications faced in their communities.
Until a vaccine can be more widely distributed, doctors are urging people to keep wearing masks and social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The main distribution point for coronavirus vaccine delivery in Sarasota County has depleted its supply and does not know when it will receive more, a health official said Sunday. When we left the office on Friday, we were down to zero and waiting to receive more, said Sarasota County Department of Health officer Chuck Henry, during an online town hall to discuss concerns about coronavirus in Black and Hispanic communities.
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Six months ago, USF’s Dr. Kami Kim was skeptical a vaccine would come before the year’s end.
“This vaccine coming out is a real triumph of science and teamwork and what the best minds can do,” she said during a news conference. “And I’m so delighted to be proven wrong.”
Tampa General President John Couris said Pfizer’s vaccine even showed up to the hospital early.
The FedEx truck pulled right up like it would normally do. And it had a delivery time of 10:30 and it came 30 minutes early,” he said. “It came in at 10 o’clock.”
State and local leaders are still hammering out logistics for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, but a few places are already set to give out the shot and the most vulnerable will be first in line.