Beginning Monday, all Floridians age 40 and older are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
Vaccines are at state- and federally supported outlets. They are also available at more than 1,600 retail sites across the state, 150 CVS locations, 125 Walmart and Sam’s Club locations, more than 70 Winn-Dixie locations, soon-to-be over 600 Walgreens outlets, and all Publix supermarkets.
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All state-supported vaccination sites and their hours of operations are available at FloridaDisaster.org/Vaccine.
Floridians can also preregister at myvaccine.fl.gov or call their county’s preregistration line listed here. Questions can also be directed to the Florida Department of Health hotline at 1-866-779-6121.
Gov. Ron DeSantis approached distribution of the vaccine with a seniors-first strategy based on COVID-19 mortality rate. First access was granted to ages 65 and older and front-line health care workers.
The age limit was dropped methodically as the number of vaccinations in that population increased and vaccine supply kept up.
The age moved to 60 on March 15 and then 50 on March 22. On Thursday, DeSantis announced it would lower to 40 and older.
More than 5.6 million people in Florida have been at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Sunday, according to the Florida Department of Health. Of those, more than 3.3 million were 65 and older.
“If you look at the hospitalization and case rates for senior citizens, they have plummeted since the start of our seniors-first strategy,” DeSantis said Thursday. “And we want to keep up that momentum as we expand eligibility to other age groups throughout the state of Florida.”
On April 5, ages 18 and older will be able to receive the vaccine, and 16- and 17-year-olds will be eligible to receive only the Pfizer vaccine with parental consent.
Vaccines are also available to persons determined to be extremely vulnerable by a physician, health care workers with direct patient contact, and long-term care facility residents and staff.
“We have made great progress and I look forward to continuing to work hard to make sure everyone in Florida who wants a shot, can get a shot,” DeSantis said. “No mandate, but access for all.”
