The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines has arrived at Memorial Healthcare in Broward County, with the first shot in the arm set for this afternoon.
Since the state is only receiving about 180,000 doses, and those will be going to residents of long term care facilities and front line workers, we won't be seeing any drastic change in hospitalizations any time soon.
FIU's Dr. Mary Jo Trepka says, "Our hospitals are really beginning to feel the strain," with COVID hospitalizations in both Broward and Miami-Dade County doubling since early November and in the past two weeks the number of COVID patients on ventilators in Miami-Dade has gone up nearly 40%.
She says it will be several more months before the vaccine is available to the general public, so right now we need to continue to be vigilant by wearing our masks and social distancing.
With children not able to receive the shots, we'll have to have a larger percentage of adults getting it to reach herd immunity.
Photo credit: Memorial Healthcare System