9,000 coronavirus vaccines will go to Floridians living with HIV

Allison Ross, Tampa Bay Times
·2 min read

The state has earmarked 9,000 coronavirus vaccine doses for Floridians in eight counties, including Pinellas, who are living with HIV, according to a Friday afternoon news release.

The doses will be sent to locations run by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The 18 locations getting doses are in Broward, Miami-Dade, Duval, Escambia, Lee, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties.

The foundation is the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the United States, according to a news release from the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Florida Department of Health.

About 134,900 Floridians are living with HIV, according to the release.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that people who are immunocompromised, including people with HIV, could be at increased risk for severe illness if they contract COVID-19.

The state has previously said the people with underlying health conditions whose doctors deem them “extremely vulnerable” to the coronavirus are eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine. But rules have shifted over how and where people in this group can get doses.

Beginning Monday, any coronavirus vaccine provider in the state is allowed to give doses to medically vulnerable people who have a state form signed by a physician attesting that they are extremely vulnerable to the virus, according to an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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