How To Get A Coronavirus Vaccine In Manatee County
MANATEE COUNTY, FL – It's been a slow, sometimes frustrating process rolling out the coronavirus vaccine in Manatee County and much of Florida. The process has been hampered by low numbers of doses being doled out to counties, high demand for the vaccine and technology issues.
Manatee County has since launched a new system to address some of these concerns. Here are four things you need to know about getting vaccinated in Manatee:
1. Once you register for a vaccine, your name will be added to a standby pool.
Through its new system, anybody who registers to receive a coronavirus vaccine will be added to a stand-by pool. As vaccine doses become available, names will be randomly selected from this pool.
Operators at the county’s 311 call center will contact those selected to make a vaccination appointment. They’ll try calling people twice before adding their names back to the pool. If contacted, you can register up to two people at a time.
To add your name to the pool, you can register anytime online here or by calling 311 or 941-748-4501 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The county received 3,000 doses to distribute this week and began calling names from the pool Tuesday morning, the Bradenton Herald reported.
2. The county will call you to book your second appointment.
Starting Wednesday at 3 p.m., Manatee County’s 311 employees will begin reaching out to seniors who were vaccinated Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 to set their second-dose appointments for Jan. 26 at Tom Bennett Park at 400 Cypress Creek Blvd. in Bradenton.
In coming weeks, the 5,500 people vaccinated between Dec. 30 and Jan. 14 will begin receiving calls or texts about setting an appointment for their booster shot.
The call will come from 941-742-4300 and a text message will be sent from 88911. If, for some reason, a patient does not receive a call or text, they should call 311 to book the second date.
“In order for that call not to get flagged as spam by some phones, we’re strongly recommending that seniors add the phone number to their list of contacts beforehand,” said Public Safety Director Jacob Saur. “If they can do that, their phone will recognize the call coming from a known party and we’ll be able to connect with you for that second appointment.”
3. Tom Bennett Park continues to serve as the county’s central coronavirus vaccine distribution site.
Tom Bennett Park in Bradenton has been closed since New Year’s Eve as Manatee County and the Department of Health transformed it into the county’s main coronavirus vaccination distribution site.
The park remains closed to the public, and all services and athletic activities have been moved to other county parks.
4. The vaccine remains available only to frontline health care workers, those in long-term care facilities, and people 65 and older.
As Florida moves through this first phase of vaccination, the state continues to target three communities: frontline health care workers with direct patient contact, residents and staff in long-term care facilities, and individuals who are 65 and older. Hospitals can also choose to vaccinate those they feel are vulnerable to coronavirus.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order prioritizing these groups in December.
This article originally appeared on the Bradenton Patch
