St. Petersburg, FL (December 15, 2020) – Bayfront Health St. Petersburg provided to team members plans for vaccination of its clinicians and non-clinicians identified as being at risk of COVID-19 exposure. The free, voluntary vaccinations will begin Friday, December 18 and continue Tuesday, December 22nd. Similar plans are underway at other Orlando Health facilities. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine will be used.
“Our team members are prepared to receive the vaccines starting this Friday. We will start with those at a higher risk of being exposed to COVID-19,” said John Moore, President of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. “Being that we are Pinellas County’s only Level 2 Trauma Center we are grateful to be among the first to receive the vaccine.”
“We are pleased to provide this initial round of vaccinations to individuals who face the highest risk of exposure to the virus,” said George Ralls, MD, chief medical officer, Orlando Health. “In addition to the Pfizer product, we expect the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be approved within weeks, which – based on supply – should allow us to expand the vaccination program, eventually making the vaccine available to our entire workforce.”
High-risk groups are defined by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) as clinical and non-clinical staff with direct patient contact with increased risk of COVID-19 exposure. Examples include intensive care units (ICU), COVID-19 care units, emergency departments and personnel who handle infectious materials.
“As additional supply of vaccine becomes available, Orlando Health will move quickly to establish additional vaccination sites across our system,” adds Dr. Ralls. “Because the supply of COVID-19 vaccine remains unclear, specific dates for opening of additional sites has not yet been determined.”
About Orlando Health
Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $6.8 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.
Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health is a statutory teaching system that pioneers life-changing medical research. The 3,200-bed system includes 15 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members. In FY19, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 2.7 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided more than $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com.