Manatee expands who can sign up for COVID vaccine. Some still will have to wait for shots
Every Manatee County senior who registered with the county’s COVID-19 vaccination standby pool has received at least one opportunity for an appointment. Meanwhile, people between 55 and 59 can start signing up for appointments in Manatee, although they will have to wait a little longer for their shots.
Manatee County residents who are between the age of 60 and 64, who recently became eligible in Florida to get shots, have already begun receiving appointments, Director of Public Safety Jacob Saur said. About 5,700 residents who are either in that age group or are healthcare workers, recently registered with the county’s COVID-19 vaccination standby pool.
“We are moving through the 60 to 64 quickly,” Saur said. “Now is the time to get an appointment before the governor lowers the age limits again.”
In anticipation of Gov. Ron DeSantis again dropping the eligible age for a COVID-19 vaccine, Manatee County opened up its standby pool on Thursday morning to allow those age 55 to 59 to register. But residents who are between the ages of 55 and 59 will not be granted an appointment until DeSantis officially expands eligibility.
Florida residents who are 55 years old or older, or who are frontline healthcare worker are able to register with Manatee County’s COVID-19 vaccination standby pool online at: vax.mymanatee.org. Anyone in Manatee County needing help registering can call 311.
Appointment notifications will come from 941-742-4300 for those who enroll to be notified by a phone call or from 88911 for those who enroll with a text message. In order to secure the appointment, residents will have a limited time to confirm the offered appointment before it will be offerred to someone else in the pool in order to ensure time slots and doses don’t go to waste.
At the height of demand locally, the county’s vaccine standby pool had about 190,000 people registered. But as COVID-19 vaccine has become available at retail pharmacies and elsewhere, people have declined appointments when offered by the county.
Some have declined because they could not make the appointment day and time they were given, but a large number have declined because they had already been vaccinated somewhere else.
In total, there have been 73,287 people who have declined an appointment with Manatee County.
In Manatee, there have been 92,692 people who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Florida Department of Health.. Among those, 41,298 people have been fully inoculated.
About 75,000 people have received at least a first dose at one of the two vaccine sites operated by the county.
People not showing up for their appointments has been a problem at retail pharmacies. Across the state, people hunting for a vaccine have taken to checking with local retail pharmacies at the end of day or signing up to be called if there are extra doses left over that otherwise would be thrown out.
No-shows hadn’t previously been an issue for the county, but are now starting to become a regular occurrence, according to Saur. Staff will soon begin surveying those who missed their appointment to determine if there is anyway the county can improve the system.
Those who have registered with Manatee County’s COVID-19 vaccination standby pool but have received a vaccine elsewhere, can call 311 to have themselves removed from the list.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 7:40 AM.
