FL. Gov. DeSantis says state will welcome Johnson & Johnson vaccine once its available

Jacksonville FL — Expanding vaccination efforts in Florida.

During a press conference Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis said the state would welcome the Johnson & Johnson vaccine once its approved despite its lower effectiveness compared to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. We reported last week when Johnson & Johnson announced its vaccines proved to be 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe coronavirus symptoms but was 85% effective at preventing severe illness. He says the extra vaccines could help the state offer the vaccine to more groups.

“I think it’s something that, particularly if it gets produced at a bigger scale, you’re gonna be able to use that for police officers, for teachers, for all these folks.” DeSantis says.

At this point DeSantis says it’s unclear how many vaccines the state would get if the Johnson & Johnson vaccines gets approval, but they will manufacture 100 million doses and have them delivered by the end of June.

When asked, DeSantis didn’t have an specific answer for which group or groups would be the next top priority for vaccinations, but he did mention that teachers and police officers would be a priority.

Cox Media Group