MANATEE COUNTY, FL (Jan. 20, 2021) – Manatee County Public Safety officials today announced the process by which they will schedule second dose appointments for thousands of local seniors who have already received a first dose.
Starting today at 3 p.m. seniors who were vaccinated between Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 will receive a call confirming their second appointment from (941) 742-4300 or a text from 88911. Their second dose appointments will be booked for Jan. 26 at Bennett Park, 400 Cypress Creek Boulevard.
“In order for that call not to get flagged as Spam by some phones, we’re strongly recommending that seniors add the phone number to their list of contacts beforehand,” said Public Safety Director Jacob Saur. “If they can do that, their phone will recognize the call coming from a known party and we’ll be able to connect with you for that second appointment.”
The process will work similarly in coming weeks for the 5,500 people who were vaccinated between Dec. 30 and Jan. 14. Automated calls or texts will be made between five and seven days before the second dose appointment. If, for some reason, a patient does not receive a call or text, he or she should call 311 to book the second date.
The automated call and the text will relay a message similar to this (see screenshot below):
This is an important message from Manatee County about your COVID-19 second dose. (LINK TO APPOINTMENT INFORMATION) Reply with YES to confirm receipt.
The notification process above will not apply to anyone who received a first dose on or after Jan. 15, which was the day Public Safety began booking both first and second dose appointments when calling seniors in the vaccination standby pool.
195 patient-facing first responders, initially vaccinated on Dec. 22 and 23, have received a second dose.
Find more information about second doses here.
Screenshot of text message:
Screenshot of link from text message:
