MANATEE COUNTY, FL (April 1, 2021) – Three months into the effort, Manatee County Public Safety Department and the Department of Health Manatee County have vaccinated the 100,000th patient. The new milestone comes nearly a month after the 50,000th patient was vaccinated.
Manatee County has begun scheduling 15,500 second dose COVID-19 vaccine appointments and 4,000 first dose COVID-19 vaccine appointments for newly eligible patients 18 and older next weekend.
Manatee County will hold weekend vaccine appointments for the first time at Tom Bennett Park from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11.
As of March 31, nearly 100,000 patients have received at least a first dose of the vaccine through a Manatee County-operated vaccination site. Later today, the total number of Manatee County residents who have received at least a first-dose vaccination will top 125,000, or about 30 percent of Manatee County's 411,000-plus residents. The Cleveland Clinic estimates that between 50 and 80 percent of the population will need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.
The County has contacted everyone 40 and up in their standby pool at least once and will begin vaccinating newly eligible patients 18 and over on Saturday, April 10.
“I’m so proud of our staff who have worked tirelessly to hit this major vaccine milestone, ” said Public Safety Director Jacob Saur. “Even though we are excited about this huge accomplishment, we still want to encourage anyone in the community that’s eligible for the vaccine to please register.”
Anyone ages 18 and over interested in receiving the vaccination should enroll in the County’s online registration system at vax.mymanatee.org or by call Manatee County’s call center at 311. Anyone 18 and over can enroll for the standby pool and Manatee County will begin vaccinating patients younger than 40 on April 5.
Among age groups 50 - 64, there are fewer than 3,050 patients in the standby pool awaiting a first dose of the vaccine. There are 1,287 patients ages 40 - 49 in the standby pool and 6,502 who are under age 40. A total of 10,842 patients are currently in Manatee County's standby vaccination pool. The County is still in the process of attempting to contact roughly 7,000 enrolled numbers (mostly 65 and older patients) that have been unresponsive multiple times. If the County doesn’t receive a response from those 7,000 numbers, they will be removed from the standby pool.
Manatee County COVID-19 vaccine appointment notifications will come from a number familiar to those already in the County’s standby pool: (941) 742-4300. (Those who enroll for text notifications will receive updates from 88911.) Anyone enrolling in the County’s standby pool should program that number in their phones, so the call does not appear as Spam.
It is important to reply to the call or text as quickly as possible since appointments will go to those who respond promptly. After you select one of the options, you will receive a follow-up message via phone, text and/or email confirming your appointment date, time and location. Learn more about the process and view a brief video here.