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AdventHealth and Orlando Health frontline workers will receive vaccine this week
Many say this is the moment they have been waiting for since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
ORLANDO, Fla. - In just days, frontline workers at Orlando Health and AdventHealth will be getting the COVID-19 vaccine and healthcare workers say it's the moment they've been waiting for.
Dr. Daniel Landau, with Orlando Health's Cancer Center, will be part of the first wave of healthcare workers getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I have a slot reserved for Friday. I understand I'm going to walk in and get it like any other vaccine, like the flu vaccine and I'm excited," Dr. Landau said. "To finally, hopefully, be on the cusp of something that can offer us some reassurance. It's a very exciting time."
RELATED: Gov. DeSantis: Florida general public could have access to COVID vaccine in February
AdventHealth will start administering the vaccine to frontline workers on Wednesday and Orlando Health will start vaccinating hospital staff on Friday. Orlando Health is vaccinating staff who have direct contact with patients with an increased risk of COVID-19 exposure.
Dr. Landau says having the vaccine will protect his patients who are at risk.
"When our patient population gets ill with COVID-19, it's more commonly a severe infection," Dr. Landau said. "Anything I can do to offer my patients better protection, knowing that I'm less likely to have the infection, I'm less likely to spread the infection to them, is important that we take these steps to protect our patients."
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Some of the first healthcare workers in Florida got the COVID-19 vaccine at Tampa General Hospital during a press conference on Monday. Governor Ron DeSantis says the vaccine will not only protect frontline workers but help to keep them in hospitals, instead of in quarantine.
"You have an exposure, you have an infection, you have to have 10 staff isolate, that is very difficult in terms of these operations," he said. "Getting these key workers vaccinated, you're going to ensure that healthcare will be able to be delivered uninterrupted."
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