Approximately 900 frontline health care workers will receive their first dose of the vaccine at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital.

Orlando Health began distributing the latest COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna to high-risk clinicians and non-clinicians at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital, early Wednesday morning.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the new Moderna vaccine was administered to a team member at the Lake County, Florida, hospital. It was the first Moderna inoculation used at the Florida-based health care system since the vaccine was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

Approximately 900 team members at risk of COVID-19 exposure will receive the free, voluntary vaccination today at the day-long clinic, which ends at 7 p.m. Orlando Health South Lake received its shipment of the vaccine the day before on Tuesday, December 22.

“We are pleased to now provide the Moderna vaccine,” said George Ralls, MD, chief medical officer, Orlando Health. “This represents another positive step forward, as we can now expand our vaccination program. This safe, highly effective vaccine will help us protect our team members as we remain ready to care for our patients.”

Distribution of the Moderna vaccine will continue on Monday, December 28 at Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital. Plans are in process for distributing further doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at other Orlando Health hospitals including Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital, Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital and Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center. 

Vaccinations at Orlando Health began on Friday, December 18. On Friday, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was distributed to team members at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center and it continues today at that hospital. In addition to healthcare personnel, residents of long-term care facilities, including those at Orlando Health – Health Central Park and Orlando Health South Lake Hospital SkyTop View Rehabilitation Center, are included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) highest priority groups. The CDC has partnered with Walgreens and CVS to provide vaccines to this population.

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 and Pediatric 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.