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UPDATE 5pm Friday: Palm Beach County says “don’t use the website.” Here is the statement from Health Dept. Director Dr. Alina Alonso:
“We do not want to create another waitlist,” says Dr. Alina Alonso, Director of DOH-Palm Beach. “Our primary focus is completing our original chd50feedback emailed waitlist through the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. We prefer that the public wait until we can give them actual appointments.”
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Assuming this actually works, the State of Florida this morning unveiled its online pre-registration system for the COVID vaccine.
We are publishing the official announcement but note we can not guarantee that this will work as expected. We do not know what it means for those already scheduled by Publix or expecting a second dose from Publix. We also are unclear — the Florida Department of Health hasn’t answered — whether this system is instead of the Publix system, or a system that merely tells you when Publix has more vaccine.
While we are not trying to be overly snarky, this is yet another example of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and health officials, failing the most vulnerable in our state.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, the state announced the launch of a statewide preregistration system to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for individuals 65 and older and frontline health care workers. Individuals can pre-register for vaccine appointments and be notified when appointments are available in their area by visiting myvaccine.fl.gov.
This website will allow individuals who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to be proactively contacted when vaccine appointments are available at state-supported vaccination sites. On the site, residents can select their county and submit their contact information. Once appointments are available, individuals will be contacted by phone call, text or email and will be assisted in scheduling an appointment.
Vaccine supply remains limited and appointments may not be available for several weeks in some counties.
Additionally, as part of the statewide registration system, each county has a designated phone number that individuals can call and pre-register if they do not have Internet access. Please find the complete list of numbers by county here. Whether a resident calls by phone or visits myvaccine.fl.gov, their place in line will be reserved reliably using Sharecare software.
As outlined in Executive Order 20 – 315, individuals who are eligible for the vaccine in Florida are outlined below. If someone does not meet these eligibility requirements, they will not be able to pre-register.
- Long-term care facility residents and staff;
- Persons 65 years of age and older; and
- Health care personnel with direct patient contact.
Hospital providers, however, also may vaccinate persons who they deem to be extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
On January 21, State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees issued a Public Health Advisory prioritizing vaccine in Florida for Florida residents. Please find the public health advisory here. Please bring proof of residency to any appointment across the state.
Gov DUH-Santis has had MONTHS to prepare plans, agreements, web sites, etc. Humpty-Trumpty merely left everything to the Governors.
Now, January 29th, Florida has created a new website, to just “register” for an appointment, Palm Beach County has 200,000 email requests (somewhere), some haphazard locations have setup vaccination locations, and Publix has an “improving” web site to provide appointments, 3 days at a time.
In the words of Clint Eastwood’s “Gunny Hiway’s” character in Heartbreak Ridge,,,,,
“Well Sir, what we have here is a giant cluster-f#@k”.