VERO BEACH, Fla. – With more people who want the vaccine than vaccines available, some might feel really lucky to get an appointment anywhere. For some Brevard residents on Tuesday, their luck was better in another county.
Doug Gray of Melbourne brought his 87-year-old dad to the health department drive-through site in Vero Beach rather than the Brevard County site in Viera.
“Because we tried a couple weeks ago and we got in too late,” Gray said about trying to book an appointment in his county of residence.
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The staff at the Indian River County fairgrounds said not only are they seeing Brevard residents, they said there was even a patient who was from Colorado.
News 6 also met people Tuesday from Palm Beach County, an hour and a half away.
Cris Pace said he drove from Indian Harbour Beach.
“Not bad at all,” he said about the drive and vaccination. “I got here on time for my appointment and it was a short way before I got to the first check station, and everything went smooth after that.”
State Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) reminded people that appointments in Indian River are made online, the same way they are in Brevard.
And also like the Florida Department of Health in Brevard County, Indian River County advised people to sign up for its text-alerts to know immediately when new appointments open up.
“Be patient because there are way more people who want to get vaccines than there are vaccines to give,” Fine said.
Gray said for him, the experience worked out perfectly.
“I can’t say enough about Indian River County and the whole nine yards. It went off without a hitch,” he said.
In Indian River, the county Tuesday afternoon said it does not know when its next shipment is coming.
In Brevard, Rep. Fine reported another 1,000 vaccines are on the way to the DOH in Viera.