Will I get ID card? Shot OK while pregnant?

Efforts to inoculate Central Floridians against COVID-19 should accelerate quickly in the coming weeks as a new federal vaccination site opens at Valencia College’s west campus, additional retail pharmacies offer appointments and the expected arrival of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine increases supply.

With more doses pouring into the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis has said law enforcement and teachers over the age of 50 would be next in line to get vaccinated, although vaccinations will continue to be open to seniors 65 and older and front-line healthcare workers.

The region is ramping up to add as many as 3,000 more shots per day, with 2,000 at Valencia College and 500 per day at each of two satellite sites. It’s still unclear where those sites will be located.

So far 1.5 million Floridians are completely vaccinated, while Orange County predicted more than half of its seniors will have at least one round of the vaccine by the end of the week.

Here are a list of answers to questions posed by Orlando Sentinel readers, and what we know so far. We are updating the list regularly, and you may submit your questions to our team of reporters using the link at the end of the article, or by emailing vaccinequestions@orlandosentinel.com.

Will Florida be issuing an ID card after you have received your second dose of the vaccine?

State health officials haven’t yet replied on this question, but there’s been no discussion of such a plan and it seems highly unlikely. For one, the state is administering only a portion of the vaccines, while the federal government and retail pharmacies are responsible for the rest.

But that doesn’t mean someone won’t start issuing COVID vaccine identification cards, sometimes called vaccine passports or vaccine certificates. Already, some international airline carriers require proof of a negative COVID test or vaccination in order to fly, and last month the International Air Transport Association and Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, announced a partnership to launch the IATA Travel Pass, a mobile app that lets passengers document their COVID-19 status.

In addition, President Biden has signed an executive order to assess the feasibility of issuing digital certificates of vaccination for international travel, and several large tech firms, including IBM, are developing apps that would serve as digital “health passes.”

But there are a few hurdles to overcome, including privacy issues and a lack of accessibility for people who may not have cell phones. And while most efforts so far are aimed at travel, there have been suggestions that businesses or entertainment venues may eventually want patrons to offer proof of COVID vaccination too.

Have all residents and staff of Florida’s nursing homes been offered at least one vaccine dose?

The state’s Division of Emergency Management announced Feb. 2 that all nursing home residents and staff had been offered at least a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. And Walgreens and CVS Health, contracted by the federal government to carry out the vaccinations, have provided subsequent data showing a second round has been completed and so has most of a third — for anyone who missed an earlier round.

But while the majority of residents agreed to be vaccinated, most of the nursing home workers have declined. Kristin Knapp, a spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association — which represents most of the state’s nursing homes — said this week that only about 30% of workers have consented to vaccination, despite employer incentives, such as paycheck bonuses.

And the process has been slower for assisted living facilities and group homes, some of which did not get their first doses until February.

I’m being vaccinated at Walmart. After my first appointment, the pharmacist said they couldn’t schedule my second and I needed to do so online, but none are available. Shouldn’t Walmart

schedule it for me?

Yes. After a reader asked the Orlando Sentinel this week about this, Walmart contacted the reader to schedule their second appointment. A spokeswoman said this would happen for others. The issue has popped up around the country, with the company telling a Colorado news station that second appointments should be made while on site. “Our pharmacy staff should be scheduling second doses through a manual process when the customer is on site after receiving the first dose. We are re-educating our pharmacy teams on this process to help ensure customers have a reserved date and time for their second dose of Covid vaccine,” said Rebecca Thomason, a Walmart spokeswoman. “For those customers who did not have their second dose appointments made at the time of their first dose, our pharmacy teams will be reaching out to schedule their second dose appointments in the next several days. We are sorry for the confusion and our teams are working hard to make sure second dose appointments are made.”

Should you get vaccinated if you are pregnant?

The CDC recommends women who are pregnant and eligible to get the vaccine — healthcare workers — discuss the decision with their doctor. The agency says considerations should include a person’s likelihood of exposure to COVID19 and their own risks if infected. So far clinical trials have not revealed safety concerns in rats who received the Moderna vaccine before or during pregnancy, while tests are ongoing for the Pfizer-BioNTech, vaccine, according to the CDC. However, “both vaccine manufacturers are monitoring people in the clinical trials who became pregnant,” the agency reported, and so far there has been no evidence that shows the vaccine is unsafe in pregnancy.