Mom, daughter inoculated as vaccine reaches long-term care facilities in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Friday, River City Rehabilitation in Jacksonville became the first in the region to start vaccinating residents under the Federal CDC Pharmacy Partnership.

The next day, the U.S. added another Covid-19 vaccine to its arsenal, accelerating efforts to reverse the outbreak.

About 80 people agreed to be vaccinated on Friday. On Thursday night, Governor Ron Desantis said in a tweet that things were going three days ahead of schedule – the Florida Healthcare Association is not expected to start delivering the vaccine to the North-East Florida nursing home by at least Monday.

Angela Smith took a job as a receptionist in a nursing home when the epidemic began to live close to her 86-year-old mother. She jumped at the chance to get vaccinated against the virus. His mother also received the vaccine.

As of Friday in Florida, more than 7,000 long-term care residents and staff have died from Covid-19-related complications.

Next week, Florida will see more widespread vaccinations across the state by pharmacies, said Kristen Ka Nappe, with the Florida Health Care Association.

“Pharmacies will be on-site, facilities have space available to set up on-site clinics,” Canapp explained. “It makes it more streamlined and efficient because there are residents. We are able to vaccinate them. The staff is there. We can vaccinate them too. “

Months after the divorce, Smith said she is looking forward to reuniting her mother with her family.

“For me, it means a lot to let my mom see her sisters and my sister, who has a medical condition, who can’t see my mom, and her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.”

Jacksonville Baptist Health said the team remembers receiving the first 250 doses on Friday.

“It’s a big day. This is a very exciting day, ”said Kelly Gio, nurse manager. “I was very excited to get my vaccine and embarked on this journey towards bringing us back to some kind of normalcy.”