Publix vaccinations have expanded in Florida, says Governor DeSantis

Frank gluck

| Fort Myers News-Press

Governor Ron DeSantis crossed Florida on Tuesday to announce an expanded partnership with supermarket chain Publix to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to seniors and frontline health workers closest to where they live.

The idea, said the governor during a midday stop in front of a Publix in Cape Coral, is to expand access for older people who may have difficulty navigating the call log systems operated by the Department of Health and reaching health centers. centralized vaccines. In Lee County, for example, the vaccination center is close to Southwest Florida International Airport.

To reinforce this point, DeSantis said that when he was in a Jupiter Publix earlier in the day, Palm Beach County officials told him that 90% of the elderly in his county live less than a mile and a half from a Publix.

More: Which Publix stores in Lee County are offering COVID-19 vaccines? Here is a list

More: Publix accepting applications for COVID-19 vaccine in Collier County at 16 locations

By the end of this week, 242 Publix pharmacies in 17 counties will offer vaccines, DeSantis said at his afternoon stop in front of a Publix in Viera, Brevard County. On Jupiter, he announced similar deals with stores in Palm Beach, Martin and Monroe counties.

“We believe this is very convenient for our veterans,” DeSantis told reporters in Vieira.

DeSantis said that while more vaccines going to Publix may temporarily limit how many doses local health departments receive, the state chose Publix because of its efficiency.

“We have 270,000 (vaccinations) to distribute,” said DeSantis in Viera. “Obviously, we’re going further with Publix now. So you’re not getting that many shipments in some other areas. Some hospitals may not receive anything this weekend, because they still have some.”

But whatever the federal government sends, “we will make the most of it,” added DeSantis.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to expand Publix, because it was successful.”

PDF: List of Publix stores offering COVID-19 vaccines

Publix stores will vaccinate 100 to 125 people a day, DeSantis said. Appointments can be made on the Publix website.

“So this is the difference between a centralized website where you try to get as many people through as possible, which can be logistically difficult,” said DeSantis.

Tuesday’s ads were the last step in DeSantis’ use of the state’s largest supermarket chain to administer vaccines. The program started two weeks ago in three counties in central Florida.

In southwest Florida, Publix will be offering injections at all of its 32 pharmacies in Lee County, starting Thursday, along with seven stores in Charlotte County. Sixteen stores in Collier already do so. In Brevard, photos will be given at 22 Publix stores.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health in Lee County announced on Tuesday that it will schedule another 5,800 consultations for COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday and Friday at the Lee County vaccination site near Southwest Florida International Airport.

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis talks about COVID vaccines at a Cape Coral Publix

“Florida was the first state in the country to put elderly people first when it comes to vaccines,” said Governor Ron DeSantis at Cape Coral Publix on January 19, 2021. He shared updates on the COVID-19 vaccines. .

Andrew West, Fort Myers News-Press

Those wishing to get a place must call 866-200-3468 at 9am on Wednesday. This is the same phone line that operated last week. He will not accept commitments before 9 am, according to county officials.

More: COVID-19 vaccine tracker: see how many people in Florida have been vaccinated, by county, state

Reservations must be filled in minutes, as has been the case since vaccinations started last month. DeSantis noted this in his own ad.

“The problem with phones is that they melt,” he said at the Cape Coral stop. “You have to have a fleet of people (hiring them). So having a county capable of doing that is very, very difficult. Having an online platform (like Publix) is probably the best way.”

But Lee County officials were irritated by the idea that their website and the calling system are causing people to be vaccinated in a timely manner.

“If doses were available, I would promise you that we would have everyone in Lee County vaccinated by the end of May,” said county manager Roger Desjarlais during a news conference on Tuesday. “We are prepared to increase this operation to 10,000 doses a day.”

Related coverage: Lee County says inadequate supply of COVID-19 vaccine is a major obstacle to getting vaccines

When asked whether the Publix program was removing vaccines from the Lee County Health Department’s vaccination program, county spokeswoman Betsy Clayton said no.

Lee County administered about 9,000 doses last week. And, to date, more than 19,000 in total have been vaccinated at the Lee County inoculation site since December 28.

The federal government informed the state that Florida will receive 266,100 doses for the first injections and 506,300 doses for the second injections in this week’s allocation, said Cody McCloud, a spokesman for the governor’s office.

More than 1,200 vaccine suppliers – hospitals, county health departments, pharmacies – are ready to give injections into the arms of hundreds of thousands of people who cry out for them as soon as the federal government delivers them, said the director of the Division of Health Management. Emergencies, Jared Moskowitz, last week.

And the state is developing its own registration system, to be launched in the coming weeks, which is likely to eliminate the problems encountered in the first weeks of registration.

But the federal government allows the state only six days in advance, and weekly remittances have been decreasing rather than increasing as originally planned.

The new Biden administration announced that it would mobilize the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard as part of its plan to provide 100 million doses of the vaccine during its first 100 days in office.

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COVID vaccine: can you still be contagious?

Vaccinologist Dr. Greg Poland discusses what it is like after his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Team video, USA TODAY

More: The COVID-19 vaccine ‘is our way,’ Florida’s top health official told lawmakers

When asked about these plans at the Cape Coral stop on Tuesday, DeSantis said that changing the existing distribution system and adding a layer of government bureaucracy “could potentially be problematic”.

“In Florida, all we need is more vaccine,” he said. “You give us more vaccine, we have the (means) to get through (to people).”

Lee County reporter Bill Smith, Tallahassee reporter Jeffrey Schweers and Florida Today reporter Dave Berman contributed to this report.

Frank Gluck is a vigilant reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News. Connect with him at fgluck@news-press.com or on Twitter: @FrankGluck

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