Gov. Ron DeSantis Announces First Walgreens In State Will Roll Out COVID-19 Vaccine In Pasco County
PASCO COUNTY (CBSMiami) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced COVID-19 vaccinations are coming to Florida Walgreens locations. Two Walgreens pharmacies in Pasco County, will be the first to provide the shots starting Friday, DeSantis announced at a news conference in Zephryhills.
The governor did not say when Walgreens would expand its vaccine program to other parts of the state.
The signup will be at www.walgreens.com.
The governor says they are focusing on Pasco County, located on the west coast of Florida north of Tampa, because only 42% of seniors there have been vaccinated and he wants to get it over 50%.
Other counties have much higher senior vaccination rates including Broward County with 60% of seniors vaccinated, Palm Beach County has 61% of its seniors vaccinated, Duval County has 60% of its seniors done, St. Johns County has 80% and Leon County in Tallahassee has 75% of its seniors vaccinated, according to DeSantis.
An overwhelming majority of the recipients in the entire state, about 76%, have been seniors age 65 and older.
Meantime, the state opened its first federally-run vaccination clinics in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville Wednesday morning.
The Miami location is on Miami-Dade College's North Campus at 11380 NW 27th Avenue.
Florida has administered 4,808,125 vaccine doses, according to the Florida Department of Health.
More than 1.7 million Floridians have had their second dose.
For those who still trying to make online appointments, DeSantis claimed, "It's easier to get online now because we've had millions of people trying to get these spots but now we've had millions of people who have already gotten appointments, gotten shots, so it's not like if you're not on in 3 minutes then they are all taken, which is good. So if you've had trouble doing that or you haven't gotten it, it's probably going to be a lot easier."
