Brevard County residents, primarily seniors 65 and older, have been lining up to receive their COVID-19 vaccine as Florida continues to expand vaccination sites.
“We’re leading the effort of putting seniors first,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a stop in Brevard County last month.
On the top of the list of people receiving the vaccine in addition to seniors are healthcare workers, nursing home staff and residents.
DeSantis has prioritized access to the vaccine for Florida’s seniors and continues to increase the number of vaccination sites statewide.
The governor recently announced the expansion of the state’s partnership with Publix supermarkets to establish vaccination sites at an additional 137 Publix locations, for a total of 242 in 18 counties, including 22 sites in Brevard.
“Not everyone wants to go to a central location,” DeSantis said. “Heck, not everyone can go to a central location, elderly may not be able to drive an hour to go through a drive-through site, so we wanted to get it close to home.”
In addition to Publix, the state has worked to increase vaccine access to include utilizing places of worship, hospital partnerships and state-run vaccination sites.
Florida Division of Emergency Management continues to administer vaccines in more than 4,000 long-term care facilities across the state. These efforts are supplementing and accelerating the vaccinations being undertaken by CVS and Walgreens, pursuant to their agreement with the federal government.
For more information about getting the vaccine at Publix, go to publix.com/covidvaccine
For more information from the county Health Department go to Brevard.FloridaHealth.gov
