Vaccination rollout update from FDOH and Lee County

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published:
COVID-19 vaccinations continued Tuesday in Lee County at a new site near Southwest Florida International Airport. (Credit: WINK News)

The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) and Lee County Government announced Monday, Jan 11, that an estimated 9,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered this week to frontline healthcare workers and seniors 65 and older.

Through last week, more than 11,000 individuals will have been vaccinated at Lee County sites open to the public. Additionally, FDOH-Lee has vaccinated many medical workers at separate sites since the vaccination became available here in December. This number of individuals does not include vaccinations issued by other entities such as Lee Health.

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FDOH-Lee and the county ask residents to keep in mind that only so many doses of vaccine are made available to Lee County at a time. FDOH-Lee is the only Southwest Florida county health department to which the state issued new allotments of doses for this week. FDOH-Lee and the county ask the community for its patience.

The site near Southwest Florida International Airport off Daniels Parkway will reopen for people with confirmed appointments at 8 a.m. Tuesday and will run similarly to last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an estimated 2,400 people with appointments per day receiving shots.

The county is working on details related to future vaccination opportunities for seniors and frontline healthcare workers beginning this Thursday and into next week. Watch for updates at www.leegov.com/vaccine.

The website also is where the announcement of the reopening of the phone line to pre-register for an appointment will be posted when that information is available. The reservation line remains closed today.

FDOH-Lee this week will contact the initial individuals who need a second dose to schedule it in advance of their due date. Second doses for first-responders and frontline health-care workers, who were the first to receive the vaccine, would not be due in Lee County before Jan. 18.

For the seniors who have received shots at Lee County sites, information will be forthcoming about scheduling the second dose. The state and county are collaborating on efficient ways to handle the number of people who need to be scheduled for second doses.

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