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Federally-operated Florida sites to stop giving first doses beginning Wednesday
Beginning Wednesday, March 24, the FEMA-operated sites in Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Orlando will stop giving first doses of the coronavirus vaccines.
ORLANDO, Fla. - It was a slow Saturday morning at the FEMA vaccine site at Valencia College. People like Douglas Green breezed through to get their shots. "I feel better, I feel safe now that I've had it," he said.
Green got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on one of the last days before they stop giving out first.
"This is fine," he said, "I know I'm protected, I know I'm not going to infect anyone else, so I'm good."
The plan was for this site to stay open for two months. Now that it's been running for three weeks, they want to make sure that everyone who got their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine is able to get their second one.
"This site is now transferring over on Wednesday and will be serving everybody who got their first dose with their second dose," explained Andrea Schuch, a site spokesperson.
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Their current plan is only to offer second doses of the Pfizer vaccine starting this Wednesday, March 24. So if you plan on getting your first dose of the Pfizer vaccine there, you have through Tuesday to do it.
They also say for their last two weeks of operation, at the end of April, they'll be giving out the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot.
Florida's governor says the state is getting more shipments of that vaccine.
"Obviously, planning massive J&J outreach without knowing whether you're going to get it makes it a little more difficult," said Gov. Ron DeSantis, "but I do think it's good."
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These changes also hold true for the satellite sites that FEMA has been running. People getting the shot say the sooner we get it, the sooner we get over COVID-19.
"I think we're going to have to live with it, whether you want to or not," said Barbara Dunford, "you've got to do it."
As of now, the official closing date for the FEMA site is April 28, but officials say they may keep the sites open longer than that if they get more doses of the vaccine.
All state-supported vaccination sites and their hours of operations are available at FloridaDisaster.org/Vaccine.