First shipment of Moderna vaccine delivered to Broward Health

Broward Health has received its first shipment of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.

It arrived Wednesday morning at Broward Health Imperial Point. Hospital officials said they will immediately begin to inoculate frontline caregivers there and at Broward Health Coral Springs.

“Like the Pfizer vaccine, which was introduced last week, the Moderna vaccine will help safeguard frontline caregivers like Lissette Gutierrez, an assistant nurse manager. Gutierrez has worried for months that she may contract COVID-19 and not be able to care for her family, including her father and sister who have debilitating conditions and her son who has autism,” said Broward Health spokeswoman Jennifer Smith in a statement.

Gutierrez was among the first to be inoculated.

Broward Health said they received 4,100 doses of the vaccine of which 600 was allotted to Imperial Point Broward Health.

A little more than 48 hours after emergency use approval, some of the first vials of the Moderna vaccine were offloaded at a Baptist Health warehouse in Doral on Monday.

“The more we have, the faster healthcare workers can get vaccinated,” said Baptist Chief Pharmacist Madeline Canejo. “And then we will do other workers.”

Moderna’s vaccine is now the second lifeline for healthcare workers in South Florida.

Thousands have already been given the Pfizer vaccine, which arrived last week.

Unlike the Pfizer vaccine which needs to be kept in ultra-cold freezers, the Moderna vaccine can be stored in regular ones.