SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Seminole County emergency managers said a conference call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not provide clear guidance on how to verify an immuno-compromised patient’s booster shot eligibility.
Seminole County planned to begin the first of a five-day booster shot event on Tuesday at Eastmont Park, but now the start has been postponed until Wednesday.
Emergency Management Director Alan Harris said staff and trucks are ready but will wait on CDC guidance.
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“We understand that some private providers have already started to provide the vaccine to certain individuals, but at the government level we have to wait until the CDC provides the information, and then we can open the sites,” Harris said.
Walgreens, CVS and Walmart all began offering booster shots nationwide to the immuno-comprised this past weekend.
The pharmacies only require a self-proclamation - a note, essentially - attesting to a compromised immune system such as from cancer or an organ transplant.
“We’ve had a lot of folks email us, call us, they want to get the third shot, they’re seeing what’s going on with the Delta variant, they want to protect themselves, they’re immuno-compromised, a lot of folks are scared, they’re fighting something else and they want protection so they can go live their life,” Harris said. “The big question is what do they have to provide if anything. Do they have to provide a prescription, do they have to provide a doctor’s note, or is it self-proclamation? Once they [the CDC] tell us that we can move forward. We have the vaccine, we know it’s Pfizer and Modena.”
Harris said the booster shot sites will serve three areas of the county - east, west and north - over the next week, once the CDC gives clear guidelines.
Staff will be checking for a vaccine card to see that patients have already gotten their initial shots.
“You can either bring your card or if you’ve forgotten your card we will have a line for individuals,” Harris said. “Some people may have lost their card. So in that line, they can look them up in Florida Shots, it’s a software package that the entire State of Florida anywhere in Florida you’re entered into that system.
Harris said if you got your first doses somewhere else and are missing your card you’ll need to call that health department in that state to send you a new card.