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County to close vaccine appointments, site

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Health.

MANATEE COUNTY – If you’ve been waiting to get a COVID-19 vaccine at the county-run Tom Bennett Park vaccination site, your chances to get that first shot are about to be limited.

In an April 7 press release, county officials announced that with vaccine doses becoming available through local pharmacies and doctors’ offices, they’re closing the standby waiting pool for vaccine appointments. The final patients still in the waiting pool who respond to the automated phone call, text and email sent on behalf of Manatee County will be scheduled for first vaccine appointments April 13-15 at Tom Bennett Park.

Registration for the standby waiting pool will be closed at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 12.

If you miss your opportunity to get an appointment for your first vaccination through Manatee County, officials will be hosting a first-come-first-served vaccination clinic from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 21. Anyone receiving a first vaccine dose during the April 21 event will receive their second dose on May 19.

For anyone who’s already had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine through Manatee County, the second dose vaccination site at the Manatee County Public Safety Center will remain open through the end of the day April 30. After that, the remaining second doses will be administered at Tom Bennett Park.

For more information on receiving a second vaccine dose through Manatee County, or to download a consent form, visit the second dose site online.

To receive a second dose at one of the Manatee County sites, patients must show their card showing the first dose of the vaccine, valid photo identification and a completed copy of the vaccine consent form available to download online.

For more information on receiving a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine through Manatee County, visit the COVID-19 vaccine website or call 311.

All Florida residents aged 18 and older are eligible to receive a vaccine through Manatee County.

County officials will continue to monitor the demand for first dose administration at the Tom Bennett Park site through the end of the month to determine if that site needs to remain open for COVID-19 vaccination first doses.

COVID-19 vaccines are available for ages 16 and older, with parent or guardian permission for those under 18, through area CVS, Publix, Walgreens, Walmart and Winn-Dixie locations.

For a vaccine appointment at CVS, visit the pharmacy online.

Appointments at area Publix locations open at 7 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. Appointments booked on Wednesdays are for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Appointments booked on Mondays and Fridays are for the Moderna vaccine. For more information, visit them online.

For appointments through Walgreens locations, visit the pharmacy’s website.

To book an appointment at a local Walmart pharmacy, visit their COVID-19 vaccine webpage.

Appointments at Winn-Dixie locations can be booked online.

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County officials give COVID-19 vaccine update

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Health.

MANATEE COUNTY – A new round of vaccines have arrived in Manatee County, prompting 311 operators to start booking appointments for Jan. 14. After these appointments are booked, county officials hope that more vaccines will quickly arrive for distribution but they’re not sure when they’ll get here.

During today’s Manatee County commission meeting, Director of Public Safety Jake Saur reported that 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were received on Jan. 11, with 900 of those earmarked to be distributed to area seniors age 65 and older and 100 set aside to be given to first responders and frontline healthcare workers. Saur said that 311 operators began contacting seniors randomly selected from the standby vaccine pool just after the announcement was made to county commissioners at around 9:10 a.m. with the expectation that all appointments would be filled by 4 p.m. today for distribution on Thursday, Jan. 14 at the Tom Bennett Park drive-thru vaccination location.

As more vaccines are received, Saur said there will be more announcements through social media and other outlets about appointments being booked to alert seniors signed up for the standby pool. Unfortunately, he said the timing and amount of vaccines coming to the county are uncertain and sporadic at this time due to vaccine dose availability.

Seniors signed up through the Manatee County standby pool should look for a phone call from 941-742-4300. If 311 operators call and no one answers the phone, they’ll make one more attempt before putting the person’s name back into the system to be randomly selected again at a future date. If you miss a call from 311 operators, you’re asked to not call back, they’ll call you. If you’ve already registered your information with the standby pool there is no reason to register a second time. Any duplicate registrations will be deleted. If you’re having trouble signing up for the standby pool through the website, you can call 311 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to enter your name in the lottery-style pool.

As of today, Saur said that nearly 60,000 individuals or couples have registered in the COVID-19 vaccination standby pool in Manatee County. Given that some of those registrations are couples who are allowed to register together, he said the number of people in the system is closer to 95,600. Manatee County has more than 100,000 residents at age 65 or older. COVID-19 vaccinations in Manatee County are open to anyone meeting the age requirement regardless of residency. Anyone receiving a first dose of the vaccine in Manatee County must receive the mandatory second dose here as well.

The 1,000 vaccine doses were a surprise with Manatee County officials previously told to not expect any first doses this week. Some first responders and frontline healthcare workers who received their first dose of the vaccine in December were already scheduled to begin receiving second doses at the Public Safety Center in east Bradenton on Jan. 13.

To date, Saur said 5,437 vaccines had been administered in Manatee County at either the Bennett Park or Public Safety Center vaccination site. Currently, these are the only two vaccination sites open in Manatee County, though Saur said if needed there are plans to open a third site. Director of Development Jim McDaniel said in an email to The Sun that he’s also volunteered The Center of Anna Maria Island’s Magnolia Avenue campus in Anna Maria as a potential future vaccination site for the county.

With the federal government announcing today that a push is moving forward to have states release the vaccine doses held back to guarantee second vaccines for those people who’ve already received a first one, Saur said he’s unsure of how things will progress now at Manatee County run vaccination sites. He added that he still plans for anyone who’s received a first vaccine dose from the county to be able to receive a second vaccine dose here. Saur said that there is a three- to four-day window for people to receive a second vaccine around the 21- or 28-day recommendation. Pfizer vaccines require the second dose to be administered 21 days after the first dose while Moderna vaccines require the second dose to be administered 28 days after the first dose.

Area seniors can expect to receive a phone call from 311 operators a week before their second dose is due to book an appointment. Saur said that current plans are to administer the second doses at the Public Safety Center with the ability to administer two days worth of second dose vaccines in one day.

Manatee County officials will never ask for any financial information when booking a vaccine appointment. Vaccines received by the county are available to the public free of charge.

For more information, visit the Manatee County vaccine website.

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