Florida’s federal vaccine sites to remain open 4 additional weeks with more daily first doses

FEMA vaccination sites will discontinue first shots. Image via AP.

Florida’s four federally supported vaccination sites will now be able to administer 3,000 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine per day, the Florida Division of Emergency Management announced Monday.

The federal vaccine sites in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and Miami were initially slotted to distribute 500 first doses each day. However, the sites can now amp up distribution after Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the FDEM and the Florida Department of Health to allocate state vaccine stock to federal sites.

The four federally supported sites will also remain open for four additional weeks, despite originally being scheduled to operate for only eight weeks. The sites will now close on May 26, instead of April 28. The sites will utilize state vaccine allocations for the extended period.

This update follows an announcement last week that the federal vaccination sites would be administering first doses after previously planning to only distribute second doses. The shift came after the state evaluated vaccine supply and determined that unused first doses from federal sites could be redistributed to continue administering first dose shots.

Each of the four federally supported sites was opened to provide vaccines in underserved communities, and Florida was the first state in the nation to open large federal sites using a walk-up model. To date, these sites have vaccinated more than 300,000 individuals.

In addition to the federal sites, state-supported sites can vaccinate all eligible individuals under DeSantis’ current executive order, which now includes any one age 40 and older. By April 5, all adults 18 and over will qualify.

The state was previously planning to offer the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine from April 14 through April 28 (the previously scheduled final weeks). It is unclear if and how those vaccines will be affected with the update.

The sites will continue to administer first doses past April 7. At this time, the expected date for Pfizer first doses to end is May 4, but that may change.

The federally supported vaccine sites are at:

— Tampa Greyhound Track, 755 E. Waters Ave., Tampa

— Valencia College — West Campus, 1800 S. Kirkman Rd., Orlando

— Gateway Mall, 5200 Norwood Ave., Jacksonville

— Miami Dade Community College (North Campus), 11380 NW 27th Ave., Miami

All state-supported vaccination sites and their hours of operations are available at FloridaDisaster.org/Vaccine.