Need a ride to get your COVID vaccine? Here’s how to catch a free ride on an MCAT bus
Manatee County Area Transportation buses are giving rides to seniors without a ride to get to their COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
As of Wednesday morning, there had been 29,239 people in Manatee County who has received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Residents interested in getting the vaccine who are 65 years old or older can sign-up for the county’s standby pool at vax.mymanatee.org. Senior residents can also call 311 and a county employee will help sign them up.
During the process, if the 311 staffer learns that the resident does not have a way to get to their appointment at the county’s drive-thru site at Tom Bennett Park in Bradenton, that resident’s information will be passed along to MCAT, according to county spokesman Nicholas Azzara. MCAT will then contact and work with that senior to set up the pickup.
There is no charge for the service.
“The county and the health department are doing everything that can be done to vaccinate as many people as possible,” Director of Public Safety Jacob Saur said. “We don’t want people to be discouraged from registering because they don’t have transportation.”
To date, there have seven residents who have used the service.
The Handy buses can pickup more than one resident at a home, and can also make multiple pickups before going to Tom Bennett Park.
The board of county commissioners learned of the service during the Jan. 26 board meeting in a briefing from Saur.
“It’s a great operation. Once they get to the site, the paramedic or nurse who is giving the vaccine will get on the bus and vaccinates all of them,” Saur said. ‘They don’t even have to get on the bus.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 3:55 PM.
