In this December 16, 2020, file photo, Florida government director Ron DeSantis sees nurse Christine Philips leave and administer the Pfizer vaccine to resident Vera Leip, 88, in John Knox Village, Pompano Beach, Fla. health workers in Florida have begun receiving the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is also offered locally.
Charlotte County is offering the first doses of coronavirus vaccine for ages 65 and older from Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Harold Avenue Regional Park.
Elderly people should make an appointment. Appointments are available for Wednesday as well as next week.
The province received 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Monday, said Joe Pepe, health chief. The Daily Sun on Tuesday. This is in addition to the thousands of doses that go to their hospitals for their staff.
The province will use several hundred of these doses of Moderna on Tuesday to vaccinate emergency medical personnel, who are firefighters in the country, Pepe said.
The rest will be available to the public, 65 years and older, according to a priority set by Governor Ron DeSantis last week.
But you can not just get to 23400 Harold Ave. go and be vaccinated. You need to register first, hopefully online at www.coadfl.org, Pepe said.
He said if the software is not ready in time, residents should call the local health department at 941-624-7200 for an appointment.
This is the first of two doses required for the Moderna vaccine for maximum immunity. The doses should be 28 days apart.
Everyone who receives a vaccine will have to wait 15 minutes on the premises to ensure that there is no allergic reaction, which occurs in very rare cases.
After more than a million doses of COVID delivered to date in the United States, there have been a handful of allergic reactions for people with known allergies, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The CDC advises anyone with severe allergies to discuss with their doctor whether they should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
People who are vaccinated will receive a vaccination card, Pepe said when they were vaccinated and with what vaccine, in this case, Moderna.
Each vaccination will be recorded in the state’s vaccination database, Pepe said, but so far not in a national database. So if someone gets their first dose of Moderna here in Florida and then goes to another country in four weeks, they will want to show their card to confirm the right time for the second dose.
Pepe said it will be up to individuals at this stage to keep track of what vaccine they are getting and when they need the second dose.
Clinical staff will not see if there is accommodation to receive the vaccine, he said.
Pepe said he was relieved to be offering vaccines to the public.
“For a year, we’re been on the defensive,” he said of fighting the coronavirus. “We can finally take offense.”