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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville will be forced to close two COVID-19 vaccination sites administered by the city at the end of Thursday if it does not receive more doses.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said the city’s sites will run out of vaccine supplies by the end of Thursday and it is unclear when those sites will be able to reopen.
“We’re ready to open more sites if – if it’s important – if deliveries are available,” Curry said. “Please understand that the city of Jacksonville does not control the supply chain and what is available. While the state of Florida determines who receives the weekly allowance and how much, I don’t even know how much they will receive each week. ”
Curry said the 8,000 people who already received the first dose at one of the two sites will still be able to receive the second dose.
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Curry said the entire state received 275,000 vaccine units last week. The state is informed every seven days how many doses of vaccine Florida will receive next week, he added, and that number has varied each time.
Leon Haley, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville, said he faces the same problem.
“We, too, will probably run out of vaccine this week if we don’t get a second round,” Haley said.
Between UF Health hospitals in Jacksonville and Gainesville, Haley said, about 35,000 health workers and patients received at least the first dose in the last month.
Haley said the city is still firmly in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, but there have been some encouraging signs recently.
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As of Tuesday, there were 510 patients with COVID-19 patients in Jacksonville hospitals, of whom 68 had a ventilator and 120 of them were in intensive care units. On Monday, there were 536 patients in total.
“So the good news is that we’re starting to see a bit of a turning point in the way hospitals and hospitalizations are taking place in the city,” Haley said. “The mayor mentioned that the positivity rate in Jacksonville is now 8.4%. That’s good because, as recently as two weeks ago, it was 15%. ”
Monday marked the first time that fewer than 10,000 cases were reported in a day on December 28, when 8,198 cases were reported.
Curry said the state-run site at the Osborn Prime Convention Center will continue to provide vaccinations, and the state plans to start administering vaccinations at Regency Square Mall sometime in the future.
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