BRADENTON -- Manatee County says it has 14-hundred doses of COViD-19 vaccine available. The county plans to offer 1200 of those shots to seniors over 65 on Wednesday and Thursday. 200 other doses have been set aside for first responders.
It's scheduling appointments through the county website, starting Monday afternoon (at 2 pm).
On a Zoom call, officials say they hope to ramp up to two thousand vaccines a day once state and federal authorities can supply enough doses. They urged patience as supply chains ramp up.
So far, the county says it has vaccinated more than 2800 people since December 22nd.
County officials say that seniors have been flooding the county's 311 information line with questions about the appointment application, which is being done through the app EventBrite, as well as questions about the vaccine itself. County spokesperson Nicholas Azzara recommends directing questions about the vaccine itself to one's physician.
Azzara also warns about "impostor accounts" selling vaccine shots for $10 to $15, reminding Manatee residents that the shots are free to those who are eligible.
Public Safety Director Jake Saur discourages people from "camping out" to wait for vaccines, encouraging them to work it like a drive-thru restaurant... "in and out as quickly as possible." There is also a requirement to wait in a parking area for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine to guard against side effects.
Here's the link to the Manatee County website:
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