Publix, CVS to accept vaccination appointments for people 50 years of age or older

Prior to Florida’s planned expansion plan for vaccine admission, Publix has already begun accepting appointments for anyone 50 years of age or older.

The grocery chain began accepting those appointments Friday after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he would sign an executive order that would allow anyone 50 or older to be eligible for the vaccine during a briefing in Tallahassee.

[Read the full executive order here]

“Since today’s scheduling event will be for appointments on Monday and Tuesday next week, customers over the age of 50 could book their appointments starting today,” a Publix spokesman said in a statement to News 6.

The online booking system opened at 7 a.m. Friday. As of 2:40 p.m. Friday, most appointments statewide were fully booked, including locations in all of Central Florida counties.

Announcements

[TRENDING: Woman arrested in hit-run involving sheriff | Gov: Fla. won’t require ‘vaccine passports’ | Girl missing for weeks]

The Publix vaccine portal opens every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7am at Publix.com/covidvaccine. Appointments must be made online.

All 730 Florida Publix drug stores offer the vaccine by appointment only.

Announcements

CVS will accept appointments for any Floridian over 50 on Monday. Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment at CVS should sign up at this link.

Walgreens will accept appointments for any Floridian over 50 on Sunday. Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment at Walgreens should sign up at this link.

Winn-Dixie pharmacies also plan to implement changes to accommodate the new eligibility requirements.

“We are working with the State of Florida and the Florida Department of Health to determine best practices and implement changes to our current system to serve all eligible clients in this newly expanded age group,” said Kaley Shaffer, Southeastern Grocers director of public relations said in a statement. “We hope these changes will be integrated into our process early next week and we ask our customers to be patient as we adjust to the evolving eligibility criteria.”

Announcements

DeSantis said he hopes to open vaccine eligibility to everyone shortly after age 50 and older.

“I think demand has been relatively modest, certainly much more modest than in late December when we were doing 65 and over,” Desantis said. “So we think that makes sense and I think we’ll see how it goes next week, but I think we’ll definitely open it up to everyone, definitely before May 1st and, and maybe long before that, so stay tuned. attentive there “.

The governor did not give a timeline for when eligibility would be open to everyone.

To keep up to date with the latest news on pandemic, subscribe to News 6 coronavirus newsletter and go to Click Orlando.com/coronavirus.