KEY LARGO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he hopes the state will soon receive more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine through new efforts from the Biden Administration.
Earlier this week, President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a program to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine through local pharmacies.
Biden also said his administration is planning to open 100 vaccination sites across the country through the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to help administer 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office.
"We're hoping we get plussed up at some point in the near future," DeSantis said Friday during a news conference in Key Largo. "We did believe that this week we'd see a plus up. We thought that that's what was gonna happen. We haven't seen the plus up yet."
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The governor said Florida received 266,000 doses of the COVID-19 this week, and expects to receive the same amount next week as well.
DeSantis said he's pushing for more doses and asked for more at the tail end of the Trump Administration.
"If you look at a place like Hard Rock Stadium, they do 1,000 a day. We could do 2,000 or 3,000 a day if we had more vaccine," DeSantis said. "There's just not as much supply out there."
The governor said President Biden's plan of setting up FEMA vaccination sites is "not necessary" in Florida, saying there are enough sites at places like hospitals, county health departments, places of worship, Publix pharmacies, and more.
"I would use all that energy and I would put that towards more supply of the vaccine," DeSantis said.
The governor made his remarks while speaking at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo.
DeSantis announced that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity's Rebuild Florida Program is putting $100 million toward infrastructure improvements and hardening projects to make Florida more resilient to storms and flooding.
