Brevard County/FDOH-Brevard COVID-19 Vaccination Status Report 1/22

BREVARD COUNTY, FL. – More than 27,151 people have received a COVID-19 vaccination in Brevard County. As part of the state-run vaccination program, the Florida Department of Health-Brevard has administered more than 12,600 vaccinations, while others have received the vaccine through various other private and public institutions.

Brevard County Emergency Management has partnered with FDOH-Brevard for its vaccination operations, and Brevard County Government is helping supplement its vaccine operations with County employees. The primary goal is to get as many shots in arms as possible on a daily basis and, for now, the focus has been to schedule appointments and administer shots at the centrally located FDOH-Brevard Office in Viera.

Brevard County is also poised and ready to expand vaccination operations to other sites in the county, to do community outreach and to cater to those currently eligible for the vaccinations. Under executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis, those eligible must be 65 or older, must be a healthcare worker with direct patient contact, and must be a Florida resident. FDOH-Brevard is averaging 800 to 1,000 COVID-19 vaccinations a day.

States are beholden to the federal government for vaccine supplies, and currently there is not enough vaccine being allocated to meet local demand.

Vaccines received by FDOH-Brevard so far.

12/28: 3,500

1/4: 1,400

1/11: 2,600

1/12: 1,000

1/19: 4,500

When FDOH-Brevard opened a phone line to accept  appointments for its first round of vaccines, its phone system was inundated with more than 260,000 calls in a two-day period. To assist residents frustrated by a busy phone line and unable to book appointments, the County implemented use of an Internet program called Eventbrite, which is commonly used to book online concert tickets and other activities or programs. This past Tuesday, appointments for 2,800 doses of the vaccine were booked within 22 minutes.

There are positive steps being taken to expand COVID-19 vaccination operations once supply begins to meet the demand:

• The Florida Division Emergency Management is working to implement a statewide appointment system for COVID vaccinations that should be ready within weeks.
• Earlier this week, Gov. DeSantis announced 22 Publix grocery stores in Brevard County will take appointments and provide COVID-19 shots to those eligible. 
• On Tuesday, (Jan. 26)  the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners will consider a proposal to partner with the county’s three major hospital systems to administer the vaccine at five sites countywide. 
• Other vaccines are expected to gain federal approval in the coming months.  

As appointments become available, Brevard County Emergency Management will continue to notify residents through press releases, social media and Emergency Text Alerts. To receive text alerts, simply create a text on your phone to the phone number, 888777, and in the text box type Brevardeoc, and then hit Send. You will receive a notification that alerts have been activated.