Manatee County 311 callers to contact standby pool to book Thursday appointments one day after 1,000 vaccine doses arrive
MANATEE COUNTY, FL (Jan. 12, 2021) – Manatee County 311 callers will begin randomly selecting names within Manatee County's Vaccination Standby Pool today to book vaccination appointments for seniors after local leaders learned yesterday at 4 p.m. that 1,000 doses have arrived.
"Last night we received 1,000 doses of of the vaccine and our 311 team is prepared to start pushing those appointment opportunities again," Public Safety Director Jacob Saur told County Commissioners this morning during their regular meeting at 9 a.m. "After this announcement our 311 will start scheduling 900 appointments for those in the vaccine standby pool."
Another 100 doses are being reserved for patient-facing healthcare workers.
311 representatives today will randomly select pre-registered seniors and call to book an appointment. Seniors should look for a call from (941) 742-4300. If they miss the first call, 311 callers will try once more later. If there's no answer after two attempts, the caller's name will be placed back into the standby pool to make room for another person for an appointment. Please do not call 311 to ask if you have been selected. Instead look for a call from (941) 742-4300 and a friendly 311 caller will book an appointment for you.
If a senior is unable to answer the calls or accept an appointment, there is no need to call the county or register a second time.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly 60,000 parties have pre-registered for the standby pool. Because couples are included in that total, the actual number of people in pool is 95,600.
Those who are in the standby pool do not need to do anything more at this time. Seniors ages 65 and older can register for the waiting list online at vax.mymanatee.org anytime of day. Seniors may also join the standby pool by calling 311 weekdays from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. The registration pool is open-ended, so there is no deadline to join the pool.
NOTE: Manatee County will not collect financial information, social security numbers or other sensitive personal information. The vaccines being administered by the Department of Health are free to the public.