Franklin County COVID-19 vaccine Update

Season’s Greetings Franklin County,

 

The Florida Department of Health Office of Communications has created a webpage for COVID-19 vaccine information for the public. Click the following link to visit the new webpage: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/covid-19-vaccines-in-florida/. Also, the statewide call center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can still be reached by dialing 1-866-779-6121 or emailing COVID-19@flhealth.gov.

 

We’ve been receiving many calls about the vaccine and COVID-19 prevention. Rest assured that we are working closely with our local hospitals and Emergency Management to prepare for mass vaccination projects for Franklin County. Here is what we know so far:

 

1. Securing and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine is a top priority for the state of Florida. A COVID-19 vaccine will be a critical resource to preventing the further spread of the virus and allowing Floridians to return to the normal pace of life. We encourage all Floridians and visitors to discuss the vaccine with their doctor if they have questions. And like all vaccines, there is a fact sheet available to tell you more about the vaccine. https://www.cvdvaccine-us.com/images/pdf/fact-sheet-for-recipients-and-caregivers.pdf
2. To start, there will be two vaccines available and allocated to the state of Florida. Those are Pfizer and Moderna. Both vaccines will require a two shot series. So for example, you get the first Pfizer shot and then three weeks later, you’ll get the second shot to complete the series.
3. Allocation of these vaccines are being prioritized by the state emergency operations center and will first be available to hospital workers, healthcare staff and long term care residents. These priority groups were selected since they are the most at-risk populations to contract the virus. It’s worth noting that since the start of this pandemic, St. James hasn’t had one positive resident. They really need to be recognized for this because they’ve worked so hard to keep their residents safe and healthy. And now a vaccine is on its way.
4. We don’t yet know when Franklin County will be allocated vaccines. The first round of vaccines are allocated to piloted hospitals and specific counties beginning this week (Franklin wasn’t part of the first round of allocation), BUT as soon as vaccines are available for the public, we will make an announcement. We’ve been planning for this for a long time. We know how to do mass testing events and we are capable of handling mass vaccination events should we need to.

 

 

 

DT Simmons, MPH

Public Information Officer

Florida Department of Health in Franklin & Gulf County

139 12^th Street,

Apalachicola, Fl 32320

http://live.oysterradio.com/