|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As of this week, the State of Florida administered nearly 7 million vaccines, with nearly 5 million Floridians fully vaccinated. Those fully vaccinated have received either the 2-dose series vaccine from Moderna or Pfizer, or the 1-dose from Johnson & Johnson. The State’s administration has made it a priority to vaccinate Floridians in the more vulnerable age groups, along with essential workers such as first responders and teachers over 50 years of age and announced recently that beginning on March 22nd, all individuals over the age of 50 would be eligible to receive the vaccine.
At the center of the immunization effort is the coordination of the vaccine distribution, from scheduling to managing access to the sites, to the safety of the individuals receiving the vaccine and the personnel administering it. Companies with experience in crisis response, such as Ashbritt, Inc, a Florida company and leader in disaster recovery, who is teaming with healthcare emergency management firm IEM to bring their combined experience in the effort to expedite the vaccine rollout. Ashbritt and IEM aim to provide an efficient and effective solution to vaccine distribution, with particular focus on communities in need and lower economic areas where accessibility and education on the vaccine are lacking.
“We know how important it is to respond as quickly as possible when communities are desperate for solutions in the aftermath of natural disasters. Our experience in working in a crisis environment is applicable to vaccine distribution initiatives because we understand logistics and we know how to build a complete team that can help a community in their greatest time of need”, said Holly Raschein, Government Relations Director for Ashbritt. Asbritt and IEM have managed, in collaboration with the State of Florida, vaccination sites in the Overtown area of the City of Miami, a predominantly African American neighborhood within the city, and have also set up a large vaccination site in Virginia with the goal of administering thousands of vaccinations per day. Both the Overtown site and the Virginia initiative are focused on helping communities in need and provide vaccine accessibility to minorities. In a recent Miami Herald article, Miami Heat Legend Alonzo Mourning commended the entities involved in the Overtown vaccine site.
The decision to bring in private entities, such as Ashbritt and IEM to partner with state governments have the potential to assist in arriving at a fully vaccinated community much faster than then solely relying on government entities.
