Updated Monday, Jan. 25 at 2:20 p.m. – MANATEE COUNTY – Good news came to those waiting in the COVID-19 vaccine standby pool when county leaders announced the receipt of 4,500 additional first doses.
The news came on Monday, alerting the public that they will receive a call from operators at 311, who were scheduled to randomly select and call people in the standby pool to book appointments for Wednesday through Friday, Jan. 27-29, at Tom Bennett Park, 400 Cypress Creek Blvd. in Bradenton.
Of the 4,500 vaccine doses received, 600 of those will be allocated to the healthcare and frontline worker standby pool. Those recipients also will be notified by operators. Two hundred doses per day are planned to be administered from 8-9 a.m. at Bennett Park.
Patients who received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Jan. 8 should receive an automated call or text to confirm their second dose appointment on Jan. 29 at the Manatee County Public Safety Center. Anyone who received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine between Jan. 2-7 should also have received an automated message Jan. 25 to inform them of their second dose appointment on either Feb. 1 or 2 at Bennett Park.
Calls will come from 941-742-4300 and texts will come from 88911. Seniors are advised to put the numbers in their phone’s contacts to avoid calls being blocked as spam.
Residency requirement
Anyone 65 or older who is a Florida resident or who can prove at least part-time residency through the production of a Florida driver license or state-issued identification card, a utility bill with their name and a local address or a local rental agreement is eligible to receive the vaccine in Manatee County.
Recipients also need to take to their first appointment a completed copy of the COVID-19 consent form and a valid photo ID along with paperwork proving residency.
The residency requirement doesn’t apply to anyone who already received their first dose of the vaccine in Manatee County. Shot records cannot be transferred to another facility or jurisdiction.
Healthcare workers register separately
Frontline healthcare workers and first responders must also show their medical credentials to receive the vaccine. These individuals who do not have access to the COVID-19 vaccine at work are encouraged to enter their names into a separate vaccine standby pool registration for area first responders and frontline healthcare workers at www.vax.mymanatee.org/frontline.
When vaccine doses become available, workers will be notified in the same way as the general public – by operators calling from 311 to set up an appointment to receive a first dose of the vaccine. These operators work Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To receive a vaccine, healthcare workers need to download and complete a consent form available online at www.mymanatee.org/vaccine and bring that along with a valid photo ID and medical provider credentials to the appointment.
To sign up for the vaccine standby pool, visit www.vax.mymanatee.org.
For more information about receiving the vaccine in Manatee County, visit www.mymanatee.org/vaccine.
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