3 federal vaccine sites in Jacksonville will stop administering first doses next week

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Starting next Wednesday, only the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available at federally supported locations in Jacksonville, including the Gateway Shopping Mall and its two satellite locations in Oceanway and Jacksonville Beach.

Tuesday, March 24 will be the last day for people who are eligible to receive their first dose of the federally supported sites in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and Miami. There will only be two days for newly qualified people aged 50-60 to be vaccinated at Northeast Florida’s largest vaccination clinic.

The only exception: the state plans to offer the Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccine during the last two weeks of operation.

Those looking for the first doses will still be able to make appointments at retail pharmacies, such as Walmart and Publix, and also at state vaccination clinics such as Regency Square Mall and Edward Waters College.

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Federally supported sites were scheduled to remain open for eight weeks and closed on April 28, according to the Florida Emergency Management Division. State officials say it is possible for the operation to be extended to meet growing demand.

“The state understands how these vaccination sites are essential to increasing access to the vaccine for Florida residents. The state is working closely with the federal government to assess whether these locations can remain open after April 28, ”said a statement from the Florida Emergency Management Division. “This operation can be extended based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, increased vaccine allocations and availability of resources.”

According to the Florida Emergency Management Division, the Jacksonville FEMA satellite vaccine locations at the Oceanway Community Center and the Carver Center in Jacksonville Beach will return to the Normandy Community Center and Hammond Senior Center in the next three weeks. State officials say they want people to be able to return to the place where they received the first dose for the second injection.

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The end of the first doses at the FEMA sites in Jacksonville is taking place while Governor Ron Desantis is publicly discussing the complete waiving of age requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine. At a news conference on Friday, Governor Desantis said he would likely reduce the age limit to 16 or older before May 1.

Federal locations in Jacksonville added more than 4,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine per day to supplies in northeastern Florida. The Gateway Shopping Mall alone is capable of vaccinating 3,000 people a day.

Federally supported locations in Jacksonville have yet to experience a single day that their daily dose quota was used.

Since March 3, the five state and federal locations in Jacksonville have administered only about 60 percent of the doses available to each other, on average, each day.

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The incident’s commander, Ron Beesley, said that FEMA sent hundreds of employees to go to communities not only to inform them about vaccine clinics, but also to provide transportation to the sites.

“We hope that the disclosure will move the needle in the near future. We see a change in our demographics, a positive movement in that part. But we are still seeing that there is a lot of misinformation out there, ”said Beesley. “One is ‘they are going to put a chip on me and track me down’. This is 100% fake. Another is ‘they are going to inject me with coronavirus’. This is also 100% false. “

Another obstacle has been the eligibility criteria for obtaining a vaccine in Florida, specifically age limits. Until Monday, only firefighters and sworn law enforcement officers over 50, school employees, medically vulnerable, health professionals and people aged 60 and over can get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Gateway vaccine website in Jacksonville created a waiting list several weeks ago for those who do not meet the criteria. The people on the list will be called if there is an unused dose drawn, but there is no one in the queue that meets the criteria. On Monday, the incident commander said there was no withdrawal of an unused dose in six days.

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“This list has more than 300 now and many of them do not meet the criteria. So there is an interest outside the current criteria, ”said Beesley.