2/19/2021

Florida Department of Health Provides Week 10 Updates on Florida’s Vaccination Efforts Under Governor DeSantis’ Leadership

~Florida Approaches Two Million Seniors Vaccinated~

Today, 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 tenth week of vaccine distribution and is continuing to increase vaccine access statewide.

Today, Governor DeSantis announced a partnership with the federal government to establish four COVID-19 vaccination sites in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville. The four sites open Wednesday, March 3 and will administer a total of 12,000 vaccines a day.

Additionally, the state is continuing to prioritize vaccine access to Florida’s seniors. To date, more than 1.9 million seniors 65 and older have been vaccinated in the state, representing nearly 44 percent of Florida's total senior population, and making up more than 75 percent of the state’s vaccinations.

Governor DeSantis’ administration is taking the necessary steps to ensure the vaccine 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., 2,617,774 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 10 (Underway)

• Governor Ron DeSantis announced the establishment of four COVID-19 vaccination sites in partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, the Florida Department of Health, Florida Division of Emergency Management and Florida National Guard. These sites will open in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville on March 3 and will operate 7 days per week, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Each site will administer 2,000 vaccines per day. Additionally, each site will have two smaller, mobile satellite sites that will conduct 500 vaccinations per day in underserved areas. Governor DeSantis’ announcement is available here. The federally supported sites are:
• Tampa Greyhound Track – 755 E. Waters Ave. Tampa, FL 33604
• Valencia College, West Campus – 1800 S. Kirkman Road Orlando, FL 32811
• Gateway Mall – 5200 Norwood Ave Jacksonville, FL 32208
• Miami Dade Community College, North Campus – 11380 NW 27th Ave.  Miami, FL 33167

• Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, the state continues to expand the pilot program to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to homebound seniors. As the state approaches two million senior vaccinations, the Governor offered the vaccine to World War II veteran Vern Cummings to highlight the homebound vaccination program and its efforts to vaccinate World War II and Korean War veterans. Governor DeSantis’ announcement is available here.
• Governor DeSantis announced that a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site was opened at Pinellas Park in Pinellas County. Pinellas Park opened Thursday, February 18 and will administer 1,000 vaccines per day for three days for a total of 3,000 vaccines for Florida’s seniors in the Pinellas County area. Governor DeSantis’ announcement is available here.
• Governor DeSantis announced a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site in Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County. This site opened Wednesday, February 17 and will administer 1,000 vaccines per day for three days for a total of 3,000 vaccines for Florida’s seniors in the Manatee County area. Governor DeSantis’ announcement is available here.
• At the Governor’s direction, the Florida Department of Health issued an Emergency Rule that permits EMTs and certified paramedics to prepare and administer COVID-19 vaccines to eligible individuals. This accelerates the effort to ensure the vaccine is administered as quickly as possible. The full Emergency Rule is available here.
• All state-supported vaccination sites began scheduling second dose appointments on site, after an individual receives their first dose. This streamlines the appointment process and no longer requires individuals to wait to receive a call back from the state to schedule their second dose appointment.
• Due to inclement weather, there were delays in vaccine shipments to Florida. When notified of the delay, the state began working with providers to reschedule vaccine appointments as necessary and advised that providers do not cancel appointments. The state received 145,000 Pfizer doses and is awaiting the arrival of the entire shipment of 208,000 Moderna vaccine doses. The state continues to provide updates on these delayed doses as they are received.
• To date, more than 2.4 million individuals have preregistered through the state’s COVID-19 vaccine appointment preregistration system. Counties continue to opt-in on a daily basis. More information about the statewide system is available here.
• Under Governor DeSantis' leadership, more than 750 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. 

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.