Kelly Hayes
Hillsborough County announced it is set to expand its vaccination efforts to residents 65 and older this week.
Initially, the county set aside 1,500 doses to be distributed at four vaccination sites for seniors across the county, starting Wednesday. Now, from a transfer of 3,000 doses from Tampa General Hospital, as well as additional doses expected to arrive from the state this week, Hillsborough will be providing a total of 9,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents age 65 and older.
The latest comes after the county’s appointment website crashed due to the high volume of traffic. The site opened for residents to register for vaccinations on Monday morning. Appointments are mandatory in order to receive a vaccination at the sites, and can be made online or by calling 888-755-2822 starting Monday.
The vaccination sites were chosen for their geographic diversity, available resources and population density of residents age 65 and older, according to the county.
The four vaccine distribution sites in Hillsborough are:
— North University Mall (parking lot) located at 2200 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
— South Vance Vogel Sports Complex located at 13012 Bullfrog Creek Road, Gibsonton (Thursday)
— East Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds located at 2700 W. Risk St., Plant City (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday)
— West Ed Radice Sports Complex located at 14720 Ed Radice Drive, Tampa (Wednesday and Friday)
In Pinellas County, plans to start administering vaccines to those 65 and older will start on Tuesday, as announced last week.
So far, Hillsborough County has vaccinated 14,893 people and Pinellas has vaccinated 14,947, according to state records.
Pinellas County was selected as part of a pilot program to be among the first two counties in Florida to provide vaccines to those in longterm care facilities. That includes the county’s 68 skilled nursing facilities, in which the county immunized 6,700 staff members and residents within five days of the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine. The county also provided vaccines to EMS and fire rescue who administered vaccines, and other healthcare personnel.
In the continuation of the pilot, the county will complete first and second doses of the vaccine in facilities starting this week.
For those who are 65 and older, Pinellas County will open a reservation system on noon Monday.
Florida has received 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which will be distributed to 226 hospital locations that did not receive doses in the first allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Hillsborough County’s Tampa General Hospital was one of the five hospitals chosen to receive first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, of which it received 20,000.
Although Hillsborough anticipates limited vaccine availability over the next several weeks, it expects new supplies of vaccines from the state on a weekly basis, focusing on administering the vaccine to those in longterm care facilities, front line health care workers and seniors over 65.
Florida has made about 74,000 vaccines available for health care partners across Hillsborough County, including Tampa General Hospital, BayCare Health System, CVS and Walgreens, according to the county.
Hillsborough County Emergency Management also is coordinating with the state for mobile distribution of vaccines to group homes and independent living facilities.
Both counties are continuing to see high COVID-19 case numbers.
Pinellas County confirmed 552 new cases of COVID-19 in Saturday’s report, which covers last Friday, bringing its overall caseload to 46,860. The county currently has a death toll of 1,066.
