Florida

New federally supported COVID-19 vaccination site coming to Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Four new federally supported COVID-19 vaccination sites will open in Florida next month, including one in Orlando.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said the four sites will open on March 3 and administer 2,000 doses a day.

READ: 2 women dressed as ‘grannies’ denied second COVID-19 vaccine at Orange County Convention Center

“Coronavirus

The governor’s office said the sites will operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Orlando site will be located at the Valencia College – West Campus, 1800 S. Kirkman Road.

READ: COVID-19 pandemic leads to drop in life expectancy in the U.S.

Additional sites will be located at Tampa Greyhound Track, 755 E. Waters Ave., Tampa; Gateway Mall, 5200 Norwood Ave., Jacksonville; and Miami Dade Community College (North Campus), 11380 NW 27th Ave., Miami.

The locations will be in communities where access has been difficult as the Biden administration tries to close the gap on vaccine disparities.

In the ZIP code where Valencia College is located, the Black community makes up 55% of the population.

The ZIP codes in Jacksonville and Miami where federal sites are going the Black community makes up between 69 and 79% of the population.

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DeSantis’ office said each site will also have two smaller, mobile satellite sites that will conduct 500 vaccinations per day in underserved areas. Through this hub-and-spoke model each group of one primary site and two satellite sites will offer 3,000 vaccinations per day.

The state said it will use its current preregistration system and work with local community organizations to proactively schedule appointments. To preregister with the statewide system, you can either call the designated phone number for your county listed below or visit myvaccine.fl.gov.

The site will be run by FEMA and the doses will come from the federal government. Officials said the doses will add thousands of shots to the state every week.

Stay tuned to Channel 9 Eyewitness News for live updates.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.