2/1/2021

Florida Department of Health Provides Week Seven Updates on Florida’s Vaccination Efforts Under Governor DeSantis’ Leadership

~Florida Leads Nation in Vaccinations of Seniors~

The Florida Department of Health issued an update on the progress of the state's vaccination efforts, as well as its weekly COVID-19 update. The State of Florida is in its seventh week of vaccine distribution and is continuing to increase vaccine access statewide.

This week, Governor DeSantis released his "Florida Leads" budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021-2022. The “Florida Leads” budget proposal continues to protect Florida’s most vulnerable residents and put Florida’s Seniors First.

The total recommendation for the FY 2021-2022 budget is $96.6 billion. While this is an increase of $4.3 billion over the current fiscal year, $2.6 billion accounts for various expenditures related to the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response and its impacts on Floridians.

Due to the remaining uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget recommends over $1 billion in savings – including over $400 million in administrative and operational efficiencies.

The budget places $6.6 billion in total reserves, which is more than 6 percent of the total budget, leaving ample resources for unforeseen expenditures related to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2021 hurricane season. More information on the “Florida Leads” budget is available here.

Since the beginning of the public health emergency, Governor DeSantis has continued to put Florida's Seniors First and as a result, Florida has now surpassed one million seniors vaccinated statewide - making Florida the leading state in the nation in the effort to vaccinate seniors.  

Governor DeSantis’ administration is taking the necessary steps to ensure the vaccine – that is now present in every corner of the state – gets administered as quickly as possible. This week, new actions to continue Florida’s proactive approach to vaccinations includes the following:

Vaccinations:

To provide Floridians with the latest information about vaccinations in the state, the Florida Department of Health has issued a COVID-19 vaccine report that is updated daily. This report includes information on the COVID-19 vaccine by county, race, sex and age. Find the COVID-19 vaccine report here.

As of today, at 7 a.m., 1,605,995 individuals have been vaccinated for COVID-19 in Florida. 

The Florida Department of Health continues to provide updates on cases, testing, and fatalities related to COVID-19. Please find all daily reports here.

State of Florida Vaccine Accomplishments To-Date:

Week Seven (Underway)

• This week, Governor DeSantis released his “Florida Leads” budget proposal for the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year. The budget includes more than $6 billion in reserve funding – more than six percent of the total budget – to leave ample resources for unforeseen expenditures related to COVID-19 and other disasters. More information is available here.
• This week, Florida’s official reporting reflected that more than 1 million seniors 65 and older have been vaccinated in the state, leading the nation in the vaccinations of seniors. More information is available here.
• Governor DeSantis also announced that the state is on track to have offered the COVID-19 vaccine to every resident and staff member in Florida’s nearly 700 nursing homes and over 3,000 assisted living facilities by the end of the month. More information is available here.
• Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, the state announced the launch of a statewide preregistration system to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for individuals 65 and older and frontline health care workers. Individuals can pre-register for vaccine appointments and be notified when appointments are available in their area by visiting myvaccine.fl.gov. Additionally, each county has a designated phone number that individuals can call and pre-register if they do not have Internet access. Find the complete list of numbers by county here.
• The state also continues to expand the partnership with Publix to increase vaccine access statewide. This week, Governor DeSantis announced eight additional Publix locations in Indian River County and 11 Publix locations in St. Lucie County that will begin offering COVID-19 vaccinations. In total, 261 Publix locations across 20 counties offer COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals 65 and older, as well as frontline health care workers. More information is available here.  
• At the Governor’s direction, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Health continue to identify places of worship and other locations in underserved communities where the COVID-19 vaccine may be administered. This week, six additional locations were established in local communities. Each site will administer 500 doses of the vaccine. All appointments for these locations have been filled and walk-ups will not be accepted. The locations are: 
• Old Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church 197 Carver Ave. Havana, FL 32333
• St. Stephen Protomartyr Catholic Church 6044 SW 19^th St. Miramar, FL 33023
• Azalea Park United Methodist Church 50 Willow Dr. Orlando, FL 32807
• Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church 4077 Prince Hall Blvd. Orlando, FL 32811
• First Community Church of Palmetto 1107 29^th St. Palmetto, FL 34221
• First Baptist Church of Piney Grove 4699 W Oakland Park Blvd. Lauderdale, FL 33313
• Under Governor DeSantis' leadership, more than 330 vaccination sites have been opened statewide in partnership with local communities and hospitals. The Florida Department of Health continues to identify active vaccine sites. All vaccine sites in Florida are posted on the Florida Department of Health's website here. 
• This week, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz presented at the Florida Senate Select Committee on Pandemic Preparedness and Response meeting. Director Moskowitz highlighted the numerous accomplishments of the Florida COVID-19 response, including updates on the current vaccination rollout process. So far, Florida has vaccinated more than 1.6 million individuals, including more than 200,000 individuals who have received their full series of COVID-19 vaccinations. The presentation is available here.

Last week’s accomplishments are available here.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Florida Department of Health, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.