What is the hold up with vaccine supply?

Reporter: Dannielle Garcia Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

With phone lines jammed, websites crashing and appointments full within minutes, among other things, attempting to get the coronavirus vaccine has been anything but a pleasant experience for many people.

More than 1 million doses of the vaccine are in Florida, but only 38% of them have been given out since rollout began. We continue to look for the answer of why that has been the case.

The data we get from the state says we do have enough vaccine, and the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker reports Florida has received 1.68 million doses from Moderna and Pfizer.

Still, those who have been served in the state has been limited to 705,000 for whatever reason.

During the WINK News hour-long vaccine special Tuesday, Southwest Florida hospital and health department leaders told us they’re not holding back any vaccine.

“This week, we’re anticipating more vaccine, but we did not get it,” said Dr. Larry Antonucci, the CEO and president of Lee health. “As a result, we had patients scheduled for this week that we’re going to have to cancel because we just did not get the vaccine.”

“We understand the frustration of people having to wait for appointments, but we specifically wait to schedule our appointments until we know we have a vaccine here on hand,” said Jennifer Roth with Florida Department of Health in Lee County.

The panel told us, when the shots arrive, they’ll be able to ramp up quickly.

“We definitely had the logistics to be able to supply more vaccines,” Roth said. “It really is just the federal supply is low, and we have to be patient and wait for more.”

The COVID-19 tracker shows Florida is not alone. While 58% of the vaccine in the state has yet to be distributed, nationwide, that number is 65%.

Supply and demand was among the multiple issues we talked about during our special.

You can watch the entire special below, on our Facebook page or in our web story.

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