South Florida Fairgrounds to open as COVID-19 vaccine site.
A new COVID-19 vaccine site opening next week in Palm Beach County will be able to provide up to 7,000 shots a day. But it won’t run at full capacity until the county has more vaccine supply.
On Friday, Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner announced that a new, walk-in vaccination site will open Feb. 10 at the South Florida Fairgrounds near West Palm Beach. Kerner said the new site will only provide “limited” shots at first because of a lack of supply. He did not specify how many shots.
The shots will only be given to residents who have already made it onto the state Department of Health’s wait list.
Darcy Davis, CEO of the Palm Beach County Health Care District, said eligible residents will have to register for their shot online after receiving an email. For those who cannot register online, there will be staff on hand to help handle registration in person.
The new 22,000-squarefoot site will be one of the larger vaccination sites in South Florida, rivaling similar sites such as the Hard Rock Stadium in MiamiDade.
Kerner said roughly 175,000 residents in Palm Beach County have been vaccinated and 80% of them are 65 or older. As of Friday, he said that about 40% of all seniors in the county have received at least their first dose of the shot.
Up to now, eligible Palm Beach County residents have been able to attempt to get their shots from 67 Publix pharmacies in the county. The next round of registration will be 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Winn-Dixie recently announced it, too, will begin offering the vaccine in Florida, starting this coming week.
On Friday, Dr. Alina Alonso, the director of the state health department in Palm Beach County, said she sympathized with frustrated residents who have not been able to get a vaccine appointment. She said the only reason the county has not been able to administer more vaccines is because of the lack of supply.
“We have to have more vaccine,” she said. “It’s that simple.”
Kerner said he hopes the site will be the first of many larger sites the county would like to open in the coming months. He said larger sites in addition to smaller mobile sites will be key to fast-tracking vaccinations beyond those who are 65 and over.
“Once that supply chain opens up,” said Kerner, “this county is well-resourced and well-prepared.”
Davis said that for the next four to six weeks the new site at the fairgrounds will work to get through the Department of Health wait list.
Alonso said there are about 130,000 people on the list, but she hopes that number will shrink as many county residents on the list have been taking advantage of getting vaccinated at other locations like Publix.