County To Expand Vaccine Registration To Those 60 And Older

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — The Department of Health in Sarasota County will expand vaccination registration to everyone 60 and older Monday in accordance with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest executive order expanding vaccine eligibility in Florida.

Executive Order No. 21-62 lowers the state’s age eligibility for the vaccine to everyone 60 and older starting Monday.

When Florida's vaccine distribution rolled out in December, it targeted three primary groups: those 65 and older, frontline health care workers, and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

At the end of February, DeSantis issued an executive order expanding this eligibility to include all K-12 school personnel, police officers and firefighters in the state who are 50 and older. He also made it easier for those who are medically vulnerable to be vaccinated by creating a form for their doctors to fill out.

The county has been using an Everbridge registration system to create a queue for all vaccine distribution events in Sarasota County.

On Monday afternoon, the county will launch a new registration link for those 60 to 64 years old, the county said in a news release.

Individuals 18 and older can register through the new, updated system, the county said. Only those who meet the current state guidelines Monday will receive an account number and are eligible for an appointment notification.

As vaccine eligibility expands in Florida, account numbers will be assigned to accounts that meet eligibility in order of registration.

The DOH in Sarasota County will continue to schedule vaccination appointments in numerical order based on when registration accounts are created and will complete administering the vaccine to individuals who remain in the over 65 and frontline health care worker priority groups, the county said.

“We started with 65 and above because they are the most vulnerable, and here in Sarasota County, 37 percent of our population is above that age group. We are committed to working through that population to ensure those who want to receive the vaccine are able to get it before we expand other groups,” Chuck Henry, DOH health officer, said. “Over 115,00 individuals in the over 65 and frontline healthcare works priority group have been vaccinated in Sarasota County, and there are approximately 65,000 community members remaining.”

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Once those remaining eligible individuals in priority group 1A receive a first-dose appointment, the DOH will transition to scheduling appointments for those 60 and older, and frontline health care workers in numerical order of registration/account number from the new, enhanced platform, the county said.

Those who have already registered themselves through the current Everbridge system will no longer be able to change their accounts and no new counts can be created after 2 p.m. Friday, the county said.

Those who have already registered with the county won’t lose their place in line when the new registration system launches.

Ineligible individuals who created an account in the current system, will also need to sign up in the enhanced system Monday. Their previous number from their ineligible account will not follow them to the new sign up to ensure fairness throughout the registration process, the county said.