Florida health officials Monday announced the death toll has topped 20 thousand as the first phase of the national rollout of Pfizer’s vaccine for COVID-19 is underway. In South Florida, some frontline healthcare workers at Memorial Regional Hospital received their first of two doses of the vaccine yesterday in Miramar. Today, some 20-thousand shots are scheduled to arrive at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. State health officials say Florida will receive almost 180-thousand doses of the vaccine, most of which will be sent to the state’s five hospital systems.

The nation’s death toll has crossed the 300-thousand mark just as the first vaccines are being distributed, with around 400 additional hospitals expecting to receive doses today. Front line health care workers are first in line for Pfizer’s vaccine followed by long-term care facility residents, although most nursing homes won’t actually start vaccinations until next Monday.

Some frontline healthcare workers at Memorial Regional in Broward received their first of two doses of the vaccine yesterday and today, some 20-thousand shots are scheduled to arrive at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. Jen spoke with Maggie Hanson the chief nursing executive of Memorial Healthcare System this morning and she says their system was selected to receive the vaccine because they could meet all the requirements to keep it cold and yesterday they tested their system.
<!–[if lt IE 9]><![endif]–>

Listen to the interview with Maggie Hanson here.