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Local doctors react to President Biden's announcement on vaccine timeline

President Joe Biden says the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for every adult by the end of May.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three vaccines are now available and President Joe Biden made an announcement last week saying that the U.S. is on track.

“This country will have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America," said President Joe Biden. 

Enough availability for adults by the end of May that's two months earlier then President Biden’s initial timeline, but will the country be able to meet this goal?

“That’s really that may be an ambitious timeline considering the supply output from the three manufacturers," said Assistant Chief Medical Officer at UF Health Jacksonville, Dr. Chirag Patel. 

Dr. Patel put this new timeline in perspective based on his research. He says looking at Florida alone if you combined the three vaccine manufacturers for the week of March 8 that would be around 700,000 doses.

“If you carry that out until the end of may which is what the presidents timeline is, it’s really going to put us at about 8.4 million doses that are available," said Dr. Patel. 

The state of Florida’s population is over 20 million. Based on Dr. Patel’s research that’s not enough doses for half of the state’s population, but he says it is possible vaccine companies could ramp up their supply.

“It’s not just about having vaccines available it’s about having willing recipients," said Dr. Patel. 

Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at Baptist Health, Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, says she’s been hearing concerns about the effectiveness of the vaccines. 

“There have been some questions, well Pfizer and Moderna had a 95 percent efficacy and it looks like Johnson and Johnson was only 66 percent," said Dr. Ransom. 

Dr. Ransom says 66% is still very effective.

“They're all great vaccines and if someone has the opportunity to get any one of them they should take it," said Dr. Ransom. 

    



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