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Pinellas County’s current batch of COVID-19 vaccines reserved in one hour

With only 10,000 doses available and 250,000 seniors eligible for the vaccine, county officials expected appointments to fill up quickly.
 
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines rest on the desk of RN Toni Martin who was administering the shots at the Clearwater Health Department's clinic at 310 N. Myrtle Ave., on Tuesday, Jan. 5. 2021, in Clearwater, as part of the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County's distribution plan.
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines rest on the desk of RN Toni Martin who was administering the shots at the Clearwater Health Department's clinic at 310 N. Myrtle Ave., on Tuesday, Jan. 5. 2021, in Clearwater, as part of the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County's distribution plan. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]
Published Jan. 15, 2021|Updated Jan. 15, 2021

All 10,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Pinellas County will administer next week were reserved in about one hour after registration opened on Friday morning.

County officials began accepting reservations through a new online and phone portal at 10 a.m. Friday, about 30 minutes after they announced the registration information at a virtual news conference. By 11:05 a.m. all appointments had been booked, according to a Department of Health news release.

The batch of 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are limited to those 65 and older by Gov. Ron DeSantis following distribution to health care workers and long term care facilities. They will be administered to those with appointments at four new county distribution sites on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Because all 10,000 doses are reserved, the county will not schedule any more appointments until the next shipment from the state. Dr. Ulyee Choe, director of the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas, said the county does not know the date of the next shipment. There is no waiting list.

With only 10,000 appointments available and about 250,000 seniors in Pinellas County eligible to receive the vaccine, county administrator Barry Burton expected massive demand within minutes.

“You’re going to see a mad rush to fill up the slots,” Burton said at the news conference.

Burton said the county was not disclosing the locations of the four new distribution sites to prevent people from showing up without appointments. Those who successfully made appointments on Friday were given times and locations to receive the vaccine next week.

Although patients can no longer make any appointments, they can set up their account on www.patientportalfl.com.

Burton encouraged residents to seek the vaccine from other sources that are distributing, like hospitals, pharmacies, doctor groups and community health centers. To date, 36,453 people in Pinellas have been vaccinated through all of these sources, Choe said.

The county on Friday launched the online registration portal and call center operated by CDR Maguire to book all appointments. Hillsborough County launched its online registration and phone center with the same Miami-based emergency management consulting firm on Tuesday, which was met with a flood of complaints from residents who experienced error messages and busy phone lines that caused confusion and wasted hours trying to get in.

The Hillsborough system successfully registered all 9,000 appointments for all the available vaccine on its first day Tuesday. But glitches in the coding and software caused users to receive an error message when they should have seen a message saying all appointments were filled.

The website was also overwhelmed by the sheer volume of users, CDR executive vice president Tina Vidal-Duart said.

Choe said on Friday that county officials have been working with CDR throughout the week to repair glitches.

“There’s always chances for some delays just with the high volume but we have no reason to believe that there’s going to be anything major,” Choe said.

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