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.”

In Washington Washington, Vice President Mike Pence and leaders of the House and Senate also received the first dose of the vaccine.

“We all have a role to play,” Pence said. “Awareness and vaccination is the way to this challenging time.”

Florida teachers want to be on the priority list. The union requests the antithesis to be part of the plan.

According to Knapp, both Wal Grains and CVS have about 2,000 long-term care facilities across the state to receive the vaccine.