People ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ Can Get COVID-19 Vaccines at Federal Vaccination Sites

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Florida’s leading agency dealing with the coronavirus pandemic said on Wednesday that people deemed “extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19 can get vaccinated at the state’s four federal vaccination sites.

According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, anyone considered “extremely vulnerable” needs their doctor to complete and sign a form from the Florida Department of Health website confirming their medical condition.

The clarification comes after Governor Ron Desantis signed an executive order on Friday that allows people deemed “extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19 to be vaccinated at any vaccination clinic with a doctor, advanced practice registered nurse or a pharmacist on site.

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This has allowed retail pharmacies like Publix and Walmart to make appointments for “extremely vulnerable” people as well. Publix has already started making appointments for the newly eligible group, according to a company spokesperson.

But many still don’t know where to go, and some said they were turned down, even after bringing the proper papers.

Robert Pumphrey, 60, has five stents in his heart and part of his lung is missing. On Wednesday, her doctor signed the State Department of Health form confirming that Pumphrey was “extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19. But when Pumphrey showed up for the shot at the federally run Gateway Mall site in Jacksonville, he was fired.

“They told me they weren’t giving them because there was no doctor here to give them,” he said.

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Pumphrey said workers told him there would be a doctor on Thursday. He was planning to go home.

Carol Bagmon said she made an appointment for her 62-year-old mother, who has asthma, for Wednesday morning at Walmart in Middleburg. They came armed with a doctor’s note confirming her mother’s condition, but said staff members told them they were not advised to vaccinate people under 65 with drugs. underlying health problems.

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A spokesperson for the state’s Emergency Management Division told News4Jax that the new policy allowing “extremely vulnerable” people to be shot at federal sites was implemented on Wednesday morning.

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“As of this afternoon, appropriate medical personnel have been deployed to the sites and are able to vaccinate these people,” the spokesperson said on Wednesday.

In one tweet wednesday, the agency said people who had forms signed by their doctors to get the COVID-19 vaccine were eligible to receive vaccines at federal sites.

“Federal sites in Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville MAY vaccinate people deemed extremely vulnerable by a doctor,” the tweet read.

Unlike the federal Gateway Mall site, state health officials said the state-run vaccination site at Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville Will not do give vaccines to medically vulnerable people under the age of 65 because there is no doctor, APRN or pharmacist on site.

Two doctors News4Jax spoke with said they did not receive this note and referred some of their patients to the wrong site.

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Dr Hannah Arn is a physician at Ascension St. Vincent’s in Riverside.

“There was no information for us as doctors or for them as patients,” Arn said. “My father is a vulnerable patient. He asked his pulmonologist to fill out his form. He had a date, went to Regency and they fired him.

Dr. Danielle Carter, who also works in St. Vincent’s, believed her medically vulnerable patients could get vaccinated at Regency.

“Unfortunately, I have personally sent patients where I thought they could get to the mass immunization site today with a correct letter, and they couldn’t get the vaccine because they couldn’t. didn’t have the right staff on site, ”Carter said.

Publix, which now administers COVID-19 vaccines at all of its locations, said medically vulnerable people can already make appointments.

According to a Walmart spokesperson, the company is “updating our internal processes and planning system to reflect the new eligibility.”

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