Brevard County Officials, FDOH-Brevard Provide COVID-19 Vaccination Status Report

By  //  January 8, 2021

vaccination program began Monday, Jan. 4

WATCH: Representative Randy Fine talks about getting Brevard County residents vaccinated as quickly as possible as Health First receives nearly 2,000 COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine.

Per Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Executive Order, those currently eligible for vaccination are long-term care facility residents and staff; persons 65 years of age and older; and health care personnel with direct patient contact.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – More than 2,209 people eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations received shots in as little as 21 hours (between Monday afternoon and Thursday evening) from the Florida Department of Health-Brevard.

The vaccination program began Monday, Jan. 4.

The free appointment-only vaccinations are being provided at the FDOH-Brevard Health Unit at 2555 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera. Per Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Executive Order, those currently eligible for vaccination are long-term care facility residents and staff; persons 65 years of age and older; and health care personnel with direct patient contact.

To date, the state has allocated 4,900 doses of the Moderna vaccine to Brevard County. The County’s targeted daily capacity for FDOH vaccinations is 700 shots a day.

As a result of this expanded daily capacity, FDOH has started to contact those with appointments scheduled for later this month and have moved up their appointments into next week.

FDOH is also contacting people who attempted to make appointments by phone, but were only able to leave names and phone numbers. Those callers are being contacted and – if they meet eligibility requirements — are being provided appointments.

WATCH: Health First received nearly 2,000 COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccines and began vaccinating the community Friday.

FDOH-Brevard staff, supported by Brevard County Emergency Management, is working to maintain the approximate 700-vaccinations-a-day tempo going forward for as long as vaccine supply allows, moving up everyone who already had an appointment until that group is complete and planning to open more appointments to seniors as additional vaccines are received from the state.

As of Friday (Jan. 8) afternoon, it was not known what the County’s allocation will be for next week. Once the County is notified by the state, it’s a five- to seven-day turnaround before vaccine doses are in hand.

Appointment availability is heavily dependent on vaccine supply. Currently, there are no new appointments being made due to limited supplies. There is no wait list, and walk-in appointments are not accepted.

Operations continue to move in a positive direction, and FDOH and the County has received positive feedback from those who have received the vaccination.

Residents can stay informed on vaccine availability by utilizing any of the below options:

■ Text BrevardEOC to 888777 to receive text alerts as part of our AlertBrevard program
■ COVID vaccine website: http://www.brevardfl.gov/emergency-event/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-information
■ Facebook: Brevard Emergency County Emergency Management or Twitter: @BrevardEOC
■ Subscribe to receive Brevard County Press releases at http://www.brevardfl.gov/communications/subscribe
■ Contact 2-1-1
■ Local media and news outlets

The Florida Department of Health-Brevard has posted this information on its website: “COVID-19 vaccinations are free of charge.

Please do not register for a vaccination appointment that requires payment. Only follow appointment links from this site or Brevard County Emergency Management directly.”

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