Florida rolls out COVID-19 vaccine appointment system with hotline

Florida’s Health Department quietly launched a pilot program of a new telephone appointment system meant to help counties better handle the demand for life-saving coronavirus vaccines.

Some hospitals, county health departments and vaccination centers were plunged in chaos after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last month that he would open the vaccines to seniors 65 and older, prompting long lines, crashed websites and disappointment among thousands of Floridians looking to protect themselves against COVID-19.

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In a tweet Thursday, Broward County health officials unwittingly announced the “new state appointment system” ahead of state health officials.

According to the Broward health department tweet, people 65 and older, along with frontline healthcare workers, can call (866) 201-6313 to request an appointment. Those with hearing impairments can call (833) 476-1526.

After three weeks of chaos during Florida’s rollout of vaccines to its most vulnerable residents Florida’s director of emergency management said on Jan. 14 a statewide appointment system for COVID vaccinations should be ready within weeks but did not release details.

For now, the system is relies on old-school technology — the telephone — to reserve an appointment for the shot. State officials said a phone system was more suited for seniors, who might be less accustomed to web-based technology and might need more assistance.

During a legislative hearing earlier this month, the state’s director of emergency management, Jared Moskowitz, acknowledged the “chaotic” environment spawned by the release of two vaccines approved the U.S. government to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Jason Mahon, the spokesman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said the pilot program was actually rolled out in Miami-Dade County last week and later expanded earlier this week to some of the state’s largest counties — Broward, Duval, Hillsborough and Lee.

“The state is actively collaborating with counties and local officials to launch a system that will include a streamlined vaccination appointment process,” Mahon said. “We will continue to expand this pilot to include more counties in the coming week.”

But even as state health officials — urged on by DeSantis — unveiled the new system and expand vaccination sites, concern remained over whether there is enough of the vaccines to go around.

On Friday, DeSantis appeared on FOX News with a 100-year-old World War II veteran who got vaccinated during the appearance and who the governor said was the 1 millionth senior to get a shot against the coronavirus. But it was a dubious claim, considering his own health department was reporting Thursday that less than 800,000 seniors had received the shot.

Since late December more than 1.3 million people have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. Nearly 124,000 have been fully inoculated receiving their second dose.

His office later sent out a statement saying the state was nearing 1 million vaccinated seniors.

On Friday, most of the Democrats on the state’s congressional delegation sent DeSantis a letter expressing “serious concerns with the state’s rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

They asserted that more than 1 million unused vaccines were on “on hold” in Florida, suggesting that the state was not expeditiously administering the doses.

It also chided the governor for confusing and misleading the public on vaccine distribution and availability, adding that there was “a perception of unfairness and political motivation.”

And they faulted the governor and his administration for the poor infrastructure to schedule appointments.

State officials had no immediate comment on those assertions, but they hope that the new appointment system — which is expected to expand to more counties next week — will help address some of the challenges counties and seniors have faced in scheduling shots.

Florida has recorded more than 1.6 million COVID-19 infections, with the number of deaths now approaching 25,000. On Friday morning, there were 6,911 people being treated for the disease in the state’s hospitals, according to an online state census of hospitals, the first time that figure was below 7,000 for more than two weeks.

The current winter outbreak is the state’s third major wave of infections since last March, with the worst coming during summer. Hospitalizations have begun ticking downward after plateauing between 7,000 and 8,000. That compares with nearly 10,000 at the height of Florida’s summer wave.

Earlier this week, Florida vaccine sites also began requiring proof of part of full-time residency to get the shots here. Click here to find out who qualifies.