105 Publix pharmacies will offer COVID-19 vaccines in Florida. South Florida left out again
The Publix COVID-19 vaccine program added 56 more stores on Wednesday, a day after 27 Publix pharmacies were added to the state list. None of the 105 pharmacies administering vaccines will be in South Florida, the epicenter of the state’s COVID-19 cases.
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said 56 Publix stores in Flagler, St. Johns, Volusia and Collier counties will offer thousands of vaccines to people 65 and older on Thursday through their pharmacies. The 105 stores that will administer the vaccines are mostly in North and Central Florida.
Publix vaccinations by appointment will begin Thursday for the new stores. Those eligible can make an appointment and see store locations at publix.com/covidvaccine.
The 12 counties that will be administering the vaccine through Publix are Bay, Citrus, Collier, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Marion, Okaloosa, St. Johns, Santa Rosa, Volusia and Walton counties.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the three Southeast Florida counties that have the most coronavirus cases in the state, have not made it into the program.
This morning we announced the expansion of vaccine deployment to 56 additional @Publix pharmacies in Flagler, St. Johns, Volusia and Collier counties. This brings us to more than 100 @Publix pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines across 12 counties in Florida. pic.twitter.com/uPm77j1mo5
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 13, 2021
Maria Brous, Publix’s director of communications, told the Miami Herald when the program began that the company worked with DeSantis’ office in selecting the counties. Some factors important to the state were reaching populations of 65 and older and reaching more rural areas, she said.
As of Wednesday, the 12 counties each had fewer than 30,000 cases and 1,000 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health. Together, they made up 182,481 of the state’s 1,517,472 cases and 3,279 of the 23,396 deaths in Florida.
Miami-Dade, by contrast, had 334,217 confirmed cases and 4,472 deaths as of Tuesday. Broward had 153,715 cases and 1,943 deaths, while Palm Beach had 93,994 confirmed cases and 1,983 deaths. The three counties accounted for more than 560,000 of the state’s more than 1.5 million COVID-19 cases.
There are talks to start including South Florida in the Publix vaccine program.
DeSantis met with Palm Beach leaders about stocking and allowing more than 70 Publix stores to administer the vaccine in the county, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Palm Beach would be the first county in South Florida to participate in the Publix vaccine program.
Palm Beach Commissioner Mack Bernard told the Sun-Sentinel each store could offer about 100-150 daily appointments per day, allowing for more than 7,000 seniors to be vaccinated daily.
Rachel Johnson, communications director for Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, said she hasn’t heard of plans to bring the program to the county.
