After a chaotic rollout this week of a much-anticipated vaccine distribution effort that launched with on-line appointments and collapsed as a muddled drive-thru effort, St. Johns County has announced it is assuming control of the Covid-19 vaccination distribution program from the Florida Department of Health and returning to an appointment system.
St. Johns County Administrator, Hunter S. Conrad, made the announcement at a 4pm Saturday news conference.
The new system, tentatively set to begin Monday, will be by appointment-only, for vaccinations on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the Solomon Calhoun Community Center at 1300 Duval St, St. Augustine.
New reservations will not be accepted until the county receives the next shipment of new vaccines. 3000 doses have already arrived, the last of which will go into the arms of 200 St. Johns County residents on Monday who had registered online this week before the county health department’s reservation system crashed and supplies ran out.
Residents are asked to monitor the St. Johns County Covid-19 website and to register for text alerts by sending sjcvaccine to 888777.
The county will use Eventbright, a popular event scheduling website, to manage its vaccine reservation system. Details on this and further scheduling announcements will be published over the weekend. The reservation system will only activate when new vaccines arrive.
The county is reserving Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to distribute the upcoming required 2nd vaccine doses. Their arrival is expected in about 30 days, said Conrad.
Sunday January 3, will see the end of the first-come-first-served drive-through vaccinations initiated this week. An overnight encampment of waiting vehicles coiled from the county health offices on San Sebastian View on Friday night into Saturday, spilling out onto US1, which caused what Conrad described as “a public safety concern”, and a decision to revert to a proven reservation system.
Yes. Continued thanks for the coverage, Brian!
The text below is another official release from the County as of 8AM Jan 2. Most of it is reflected in the original Courier post above and the press conference at 4PM on Jan 2. The press conference, by the way was of poor audio quality and was punctuated by gun shots from a nearby shooting range?
I have been following the SJC efforts with amusement and disbelief. Here is a factual summary sprinkled with a few editorial comments:
– The County has “assumed control” of the vaccine distribution effort. Appropriate wording.
– They have shifted the site from the FL Health Dept to the Calhoun Community Center
– There is currently no sign up process available
– The text number (888777) is active, but only serves as a notification vehicle. It can NOT be used to sign up for the vaccine. The only prior notification that came from the text number were the opening hours for the Forida Health Department’s strategic rollout: “Get in line in the middle of the night and take your chances.”
– When interviewed on Jan 1 by a Jacksonville station, Mr Quigley of the Florida Department of Health seemed surprised by the number of people that showed up.
– All 3,000 vaccinations have been distributed. Some of the recipients had “signed up,” but their place in line was disrupted by the “first come – first served policy” enacted after the sign up process.
– There was never any sign up list published (to this day). No one has any idea where the “list maintained by the FL Dept of Health” came from. They claim to have 200 people on it. Those people have priority over the as yet to be announced sign up list. The source of the original sign up list remains a mystery.
– The sign up app will be made available by “Eventbright” and details are to be published over the weekend (ending Jan 3). The website to monitor is http://www.sjcfl.us/coronavirusvaccinations. There is currently no hint on that site that a sign up program will be made available.
– No one will be able to sign up until the second shipment arrives. it is unclear if there is some logic behind that or another way to kick the can down the road.
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St. Johns County
St. Johns County Communications • Published on social media at 8AM , Jan 3
St. Johns County Partners with Department of Health to Expand COVID-19 Vaccination Program Beginning Monday, January 4. St. Johns County has partnered with the Department of Health to more efficiently and effectively administer COVID-19 vaccinations through an expanded program.
Beginning Monday, January 4, all vaccinations will be administered by appointment only from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the Solomon Calhoun Community Center, 1300 Duval Street. Vaccinations will no longer be administered by the Department of Health at the Health and Human Services Building and the program will no longer be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those without an appointment will not receive a vaccination, and will be required to return in the future once an appointment has been made. The remainder of St. Johns County’s limited initial vaccine allotment will be allocated to those on the waiting list compiled by the Department of Health while St. Johns County awaits a second vaccine shipment from the State of Florida.
Once St. Johns County receives a new allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, a registration system will be launched for residents to make an appointment to receive a first dose of the vaccine. Those who receive the initial dose will be provided with a follow-up appointment to receive their second dose at a later date. Second doses will be administered on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at the same location. Per State of Florida guidelines, St. Johns County’s allocation of COVID-19 vaccinations are currently designated for persons ages 65 years or older, and frontline healthcare workers who have direct contact with patients.
As the COVID-19 vaccination initiative is a rapidly evolving effort, St. Johns County’s program could expand in the future to include additional locations and hours as more vaccines become available to our community. For more information regarding St. Johns County’s COVID-19 vaccination program, please visit http://www.sjcfl.us/coronavirusvaccinations, call the St. Johns County EOC COVID-19 vaccination hotline at 904.295.3711, or text SJCVACCINE to 888777 to receive text alerts.
Brian, Spoonbill has become a “must read.” I don’t know what we did without it. Hearty congratulations and thank you for all your hard and good work.
John
Thank you, John.