Kelly Hayes
Hillsborough County launched an initiative Thursday to expand vaccination efforts to seniors beyond current distribution sites, bringing the COVID-19 vaccine to them.
The Targeted Vaccine Area (TVA) initiative will start delivering vaccines to individuals 65 and older living in senior homes or independent living communities across the county.
The program will target areas concentrated with seniors, so far identifying 350 locations using the state registry and sources such as the Department of Aging Services.
The initiative kicked-off distribution Thursday at Kings Manor in Tampa and will move on to the San Lorenzo communities next.
This will be a joint effort by the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County, the University of South Florida College of Public Nursing, and Hillsborough County’s Office of Emergency Management and Department of Aging Services.
Tampa General Hospital will help the initiative with resources.
The program will distribute vaccines to the identified communities weekly based on available supplies. So far, Hillsborough has vaccinated 35,916 individuals, 6,211 of whom have received their second dose, according to the latest state vaccination report.
The county opened vaccinations to seniors near the start of last week. Appointments quickly filled up after a chaotic launch riddled with clogged phone lines and crashed websites.
Hillsborough resumed vaccination appointments for seniors this week and altered its registration system in hopes of creating a more accessible process.
Now, those looking to make an appointment can do so online through CDR HealthPro or by calling 850-848-5287 at designated times.
Hillsborough County has allocated 9,000 doses of the vaccine to be administered at three distribution sites from Wednesday through Friday. The County’s public vaccination sites delivered 8,447 shots last week to seniors and 522 shots to front-line health care workers in a targeted vaccination effort.
Hillsborough County confirmed 946 new cases on Wednesday, showing a trend upward since the start of the week, where daily new cases sat around 700.
One comment
Fred Edwards
January 15, 2021 at 9:14 am
We are both over 85 call every morning to make appointment for COVID vaccine,thus is now two weeks and no one there to take appointment? Can’t they take an appointment date when it becomes available?
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