Another 3,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments will be booked this week

Another 3,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments will be booked this week
Posted on 02/16/2021

MANATEE COUNTY, FL (Feb. 16, 2021) – The Florida Division of Emergency Management will host a "pop-up" vaccination spot at Premier Sports Campus, 5895 Post Blvd., Lakewood Ranch this week for 3,000 Manatee County residents who live in zip codes 34202 and 34211.

Manatee County 311 Call Center yesterday and today began calling residents from those zip codes who are registered with the County's vaccine standby pool to book the appointments at Premier for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. There is no new or unique sign up site for the Premier Sports vaccine dates. Patients will be given information on their second dose when they're on site for their first dose this week. The 311 Call Center has also booked 5,100 appointments for Bennett Park occurring Thursday and Friday of this week.

"This unique opportunity was made possible by Governor DeSantis calling (‎Schroeder-Manatee Ranch President) Rex Jensen wanting to do a vaccination site near Lakewood Ranch," said County Commission Chair Vanessa Baugh. "The Governor has been trying to find large areas of neighborhoods to target."

Public Safety Director Jacob Saur today confirmed that the County has received word from state officials that severe winter storms in other areas of the country may delay the arrival of vaccines in Florida. If doses are delayed arriving locally, those residents who had appointments will be notified and then rescheduled when new shipments arrive.

As of Feb. 15, 31,932 vaccinations have been administered at Manatee County's points of distribution (Bennett Park and the Public Safety Center). 36,765 Manatee County residents have received either a first or the complete series of the vaccine.