More than 5 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered across the state of Florida. Millions of people spending five minutes with someone who is changing their life.

What You Need To Know

  • Dr. Amy Lynn Safaty says she’s honored to be part of something historic

  • She shares her experiences administrating the vaccine to her first patients

  • She believes the vaccine will eventually end the pandemic

As soon as the pandemic began, CVS pharmacist Dr. Amy Lynn Safaty began to get questions. Her answer was always the same.

“Keep up with their hand hygiene, social distance if you can," Safaty recalls. "Masks if you have them available.”

One year later she is now a part of history, helping the nation reach herd immunity.

“It was an honor to be a part of something so historic," Safaty begins to explain. "I volunteered to pick up these shifts on my days off when we first started in January to go into the nursing homes and we started vaccinating our most vulnerable populations.”

One of the first vaccines she was able to administer was to her intern. Another was to an elderly woman she never met before in a long-term care facility.

“One of the women looked up at me and asked if I was an angel," Safaty describes. "I said, ‘No, I’m just here to administer a COVID vaccine,’ and she told me she had been praying for a vaccine to come.”

As more and more people across the country receive a vaccination, they are beyond grateful to those changing their lives with a simple shot in the arm from someone they have never met.

“Sometimes (it’s) ok if you don’t know their name," Sarah Truelson said after getting a vaccine at the Orange County Convention Center. "The nature they are coming across with their personality makes you feel confident they are doing ok.”

Safaty says with every vaccine given, it is one step closer to putting an end to this virus and to this pandemic.

This is not just what the doctor ordered, but what your neighborhood pharmacists recommend as well.

“I think that this vaccine is really the answer to a lot of people’s prayers and concerns,” Safaty says.

One person and one vaccine at a time.

Safaty tells Spectrum News 13 she’s looking forward to administering more vaccines. Right now she is waiting for her store to become a location people can receive a vaccination at.