Manatee gets more COVID-19 vaccine for seniors. Demand for appointments crashed website
An additional 1,200 people 65 years old or over will receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday and Thursday, Manatee County government and the Department of Health in Manatee County announced Monday.
Those scheduled to be vaccinated had to sign up online — but about two minutes after officials began accepting appointments at 2 p.m., the county government’s website crashed because of overwhelming demand. Within moments the county announced its IT department was addressing the issue.
Despite the technical issues, all 1,200 appointments were booked by 3:30 p.m.
By the end of the day Monday, Manatee County was expecting to have vaccinated 3,692 front-line healthcare workers and people 65 years old or over. The administered doses include all of the initial 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine it received from the state last week.
On Monday, the county received an additional 1,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine that it will administer by appointment on and Wednesday and Thursday at Tom Bennett Park, 280 Kay Road, Bradenton, just northwest of the Interstate 75 and State Road 64 interchange.
Of the 1,400 doses, 200 will be reserved for front-line health care workers and emergency first responders. Those workers are being vaccinated between 8 and 9 a.m., before appointments begin for those 65 and older.
“No one is storing any doses. It’s a matter of getting them in and getting them out,” Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob Saur said during a press conference on Monday. “We have already requested a large number of doses from the state and the director (of emergency management) has promised me as soon as he gets those in, he will send us doses. I think it’s no short of a small feat that Manatee County is able to get so many doses out so quickly.”
Manatee hopes to expand vaccinations
Appointments quickly filled up when they first became available last week, but plans are already underway to increase how many vaccinations can be administered daily as more vaccine becomes available.
“As we have done these vaccinations, we feel much more comfortable that we can ramp up easily up to a 1,000 and we are making plans to ramp that up to 2,000 a day with a second site should supply become more predictable in the future,” Saur said.
Because of a current federal supply chain issue with the vaccines, officials said they did not know when appointments would again become available.
Those getting inoculated will need a second shot in a month. Department of Health staff will be contacting individuals a week before they are due for their second dose of the vaccine to setup that appointment, Manatee County’s FDOH health officer Dr. Jennifer Bencie said on Monday.
One major issue acknowledged by Saur and Bencie on Monday is how few seniors of low socioeconomic status have been vaccinated so far.
“The state understands that as well. I do believe for the state we have seen only 8% of that population get vaccinated. That is not by design. That is an unfortunate means,” Saur said. “That is top of our list to tackle.
Bencie said a lack of access to computers or transportation were known issues for many. She is hoping the MCR Health can soon receive vaccines so it can begin administering shots in those neighborhoods.
“We hope to be able to get out into the community with our mobile units as we have done for the testing,” Bencie said.
Residents praise vaccine effort
Louis Blank, 88, was among those who got vaccinated on Monday morning at Bennett Park. Her neighbors in Heritage Harbour were all mad at her now, she said laughing.
“They are all jealous now,” Blank said. “They said, ‘How did you do that?’ I said, ‘You don’t think I did it. My daughter-in-law did it.’”
Blank’s son, Michael, who drove her to be vaccinated, said the site was very easy to navigate and his wife had no issues making the appointment.
While not completely isolated since the pandemic hit, Blank was still excited about getting vaccinated.
“My neighborhood has been really, really careful,” Blank said.
Her son and his family quarantined when they went on vacation to ensure her safety.
Roxanne Koche, 71, and her husband, Bill, 74, were also vaccinated on Monday and were looking forward to the possibility of taking a vacation themselves and seeing their grandchildren.
“Some of them, they came down here, but we have some that we have not seen in three or four months,” he said.
The couple was also impressed with the setup at Bennett Park.
“Everyone was wonderful, quick, easy, thorough,” she said.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 2:02 PM.
