Need a vaccine in the Florida Keys? College is giving shots to 400 people on the list
Nursing students and staff at the College of the Florida Keys will administer 400 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at its Lower Keys campus on Sunday.
But don’t rush to register for one of the 400 doses.
All 400 appointments will be filled before Sunday from a list of people eligible for the vaccine given to the college by the state health department.
The college has a team of people scheduling the appointments, said Amber Ernst-Leonard, the college’s spokeswoman.
The list comes from people who called or came to the health department looking for the vaccine between the end of December to early January, said Alison Kerr, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Monroe. It includes healthcare workers who have direct patient contact and people 65 and over.
“They’ve been essentially reserved for those specific individuals,” Kerr said.
On March 7, the student nurses will administer the second doses of the vaccine for those who receive the first dose on Sunday, Ernst-Leonard said.
“We will get more vaccine supply for then,” she said.
It’s a first for the college on Stock Island, but officials there said they’re prepared to keep offering the shots as they are sent to the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County.
“We’re ready,” Ernst-Leonard said. “We don’t know when the next doses are coming or how many there will be. We’ve got the infrastructure set up to roll it out. Hopefully, we will be doing this again very soon.”
The college will have 38 nursing students and seven employees working at the vaccine site starting at 10 a.m. Sunday. They plan on giving out 48 doses per hour.
COVID in the Keys
The Keys, home to about 74,000 people, have a known total of 5,413 cases and 41 deaths.
According to the state’s Wednesday vaccine report, 5,834 people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Monroe County and 1,184 have completed the two-dose vaccination.
The state Department of Health in Monroe received 500 doses on Jan. 29. Of those, 400 were transferred to the College of the Florida Keys, Kerr said. The rest is being dispensed by the health department. Many are going to two Publix stores.
“It’s really on a week-by-week basis,” said Kerr, of Monroe’s vaccine allotment. “We don’t know what we’re getting until a week in advance. At this time, it hasn’t changed. The large doses are going directly to Publix.”
The college is not taking walk-ins at the vaccine site on Sunday. Appointments are required and the 400 appointments will be filled.
“We’ve made all the appointments based on the health department’s list of eligible people for the vaccine,” Ernst-Leonard said.
Where to go for the vaccine
The initial check-in point is the college parking lot off 5901 College Rd. on Stock Island. There, while still in their cars, people will have their temperature taken and checked that they have masks. From there, when it’s time for their appointments, they will go to an outside reception desk. The shots will be administered inside the college’s B building.
After receiving the shots, people will be asked to wait in an area outside for 15 minutes so they can be monitored for reactions, Ernst-Leonard said.
How to pre-register
Seniors 65 and older and people with health conditions that make them extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 can pre-register for the vaccine in Florida through a website and phone system.
Healthcare workers with direct patient contact and long-term care residents and staff can also pre-register.
The new website is myvaccine.fl.gov. The phone numbers in the Keys are 866-201-7069 or TTY 833-990-2908.
Vaccines at Publix stores in the Keys
In the Keys, two Publix stores are distributing the vaccine: the one in Islamorada at 83268 Overseas Highway and the Key West Publix store at the Key Plaza Shopping Center.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 6:28 AM with the headline "Need a vaccine in the Florida Keys? College is giving shots to 400 people on the list."
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