COVID-19 vaccinations first come, first served Monday beginning at two senior centers in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Starting Monday, Duval County residents age 65 and older, front-line and first responders will be able to be vaccinated for COVID-19 at two Jacksonville age centers – not on a scheduled basis, but based on the month of birth.

Vaccinations will continue to be scheduled at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, but the demand for appointments has exceeded supply – which is likely to continue in the near future. In response, the city announced last week that it is turning seniors’ centers into mandarin and Westside from COVID-19 test sites to vaccine sites.

Slowly but surely, vaccine distribution plans are expanding to different parts of the city and state.

“If you look this week, we’re taking between 50,000 and 60,000 photos in the state of Florida,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis. “We will do much more when we get more vaccines.”

Even as more vaccines become available, doctors in the area say the process needs to be more organized.

“There is no coordinated plan to vaccinate 800,000 people from a priority perspective and there is no equity in the system,” said Dr. Jeffery Goldhagen, head of the pediatric community at UF Health.

All patients must provide a photo ID showing the date of birth and proving the residence of Duval County. First responders and health workers should also bring a work badge.

While vaccinations will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis (no appointment required), eligible residents should visit a vaccination site only on the day associated with their month of birth, in accordance with the following schedule:

• Monday – January and February
• Tuesday – March and April
• Wednesday – May and June
• Thursday – July and August
• Friday – September and October
• Saturday – November and December

These two vaccination sites will be open from 11:00 to 19:00, Monday to Saturday:

• Mandarin Senior Center, 3848 Hartley Road
• Lane Wiley Senior Center, 6710 Wiley Road

Between the two sites, the city hopes to vaccinate just under 1,000 people each day with the Pfizer vaccine – the mandarin will provide 500 vaccines a day, while up to 475 vaccines will be distributed at Lane Wiley, according to the city. When daily consumption has been exhausted, the remaining patients will have the option to return on the day assigned to the following week or to make an appointment with the Florida Department of Health for the Prime Osborn location.

After administration of the vaccine, patients should remain on site for at least 15 minutes to be monitored for potential reactions by healthcare and emergency professionals. Based on your medical history, some people may need to wait 30 minutes. While allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine are rare, the city said, this safety measure is in place due to the abundance of caution. Patients will be able to choose to receive emails and text messages about the second dose.

The first Osborn is still for appointment only, but doctors say these three places and hospitals will not be enough.

“The idea that we will depend on them to implement our vaccination campaign is not just a viable plan to vaccinate more than 800,000 people and to do so fairly,” Goldhagen said.

Goldhagen said there should be plans for elementary schools, health, community and emergency operations centers to prepare for the vaccine distribution by the time the supply becomes available.

“In low-income and minority communities, in the same context that we have a food desert, we also have deserts in pharmacies,” he said.

Pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens may soon have distribution plans, while DeSantis said announcements of distributions at Publix locations should appear soon.

To help ensure a safe and organized vaccination process, patients should follow these guidelines:

• Masks must be worn at all times.
• Physical distance requirements must be met at all times.
• People who feel bad should not go to a vaccination site.
• Patients must be in line no later than 18:00
• Only caregivers can accompany patients who need assistance at a vaccination site.
• Patients must park in designated parking areas; patients cannot be lowered.
• Parking and waiting in line overnight will not be allowed.
• Patients should follow traffic patterns and instructions from traffic monitors (is a map available at JaxReady.com/Virus?).

Patients must print and bring a complete DOH vaccine screening and consent form to the vaccination site. The form is available at COJ.net/CovidVaccineForm.

The State Department of Health in Duval County started administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on January 4 to anyone aged 65 and over and to health care workers who managed to make an appointment.

New meetings for the COVID-19 vaccine will be added through the online system every Thursday at 5 p.m., the health department said. On Thursday, more than 400,000 people tried to log in online to book the new set of appointments, temporarily blocking the website. All appointments were booked within one hour.

The health department said the link will change weekly and will be posted on the alerts page on the department’s website: duval.floridahealth.gov.

For questions, citizens can visit JaxReady.com/Virus or call 630-CITY (2489) to connect to a customer support representative.