COVID-19 vaccine to open for all adults

By April 5, all adults in Sarasota County will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine

By Brynn Mechem
| 1:15 p.m. March 25, 2021

Sarasota
News

In two weeks, all Florida adults will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced that beginning March 29, individuals 40 and over will be able to receive the vaccine. On Monday, April 5, all individuals 18 and older will be eligible.

In anticipation for the opening, the Department of Health in Sarasota County expanded its registration system to include all individuals 18 and older. Those who are not yet registered in the county’s system can sign up on the county’s website.

On March 29, DOH employees will begin assigning account numbers to individuals 40 and older who are registered in the system. It will continue to assign account numbers to older individuals and frontline healthcare workers, school staff and law enforcement officers.

How to confirm your appointment

When individuals receive their appointment time, it is important they respond so health care workers know whether to reserve a vaccine for them.

Individuals may receive their appointment, which will include a date, location and time, through email, text, or automated phone call depending on the preference they selected when signing up.

Individuals will receive three options:

1. I am confirming the appointment

2. I am unavailable at this time

3. I decline, no longer interested.

If an individual receives an email, they will click on the link of the option they choose. If it’s through text, they will respond with just the number corresponding to the option they choose. If they receive a phone call, individuals will select the corresponding number on their keypad.

As of March 25, registrants are allowed two opportunities to reschedule their appointment. After that, they will be removed from the queue.

Registrants who do not respond to two appointment notifications also will be removed from the queue.

After choosing an option, individuals will receive a confirmation email with their appointment time, date and place.

Individuals who are 18 to 39 in the system will begin receiving account numbers in the order of registration starting April 5. New registrants will receive account numbers within 48 hours of registering, but all will receive the vaccine on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once registrants receive an account number, they will be queued to receive an appointment notice. Currently, the county has scheduled appointments through account number 185,103.

To date, more than 160,550 individuals have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Sarasota County. There are more than 30,050 individual accounts registered to still receive the vaccine.