Publix delays taking new COVID-19 vaccine appointments

If you have an appointment to get your COVID-19 vaccine shot at a Florida Publix on Wednesday, you’re still good. But if you were hoping to make an appointment, you’ll have to wait.

The state’s dominant supermarket chain announced the cancellation of Wednesday’s COVID vaccine appointment scheduling event. Signing up for slots can be done only through Publix’s website.

Publix said winter weather in other parts of the country, reducing trucks to crawling over roads caked in snow or ice, has “prevented government delivery of allotted COVID-19 vaccine.”

Thursday’s already-made vaccine appointments will be kept.

“We know how important administering this vaccine is, so we deeply regret the need to cancel Wednesday’s scheduling event,” Publix Director of Communications Maria Brous said. “Once additional vaccine is received, we will announce the next opportunity for vaccine appointment scheduling.”

The counties with stores distributing vaccines: Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Suwanee, Volusia and Walton.

This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 8:26 AM.