St. Johns County School District employees who are 65 or older can now get the COVID-19 vaccine through a new program at Flagler Health+ in St. Augustine.
Flagler Health+ received 1,950 vaccines in late December and has since vaccinated nearly 1,300 employees and area physicians. The hospital got its shipment of second doses for those individuals on Tuesday.
This week the hospital started administering internal second doses as well as first doses to public school employees, along with health care clinic employees and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputies and other first responders.
“We know that mass vaccination is key to stopping the spread of COVID-19. With a limited vaccine supply, we established a plan to achieve the greatest reach and also protect some of the most vulnerable, in alignment with federal and CDC guidelines. Setting a priority to protect our law enforcement, at-risk school district employees, and area healthcare workers was determined to be the best use of resources at this time,” commented Flagler Health+ President and CEO Jason Barrett. “We know the general public is anxious to receive vaccines. We have applied to receive more and stand at the ready to help vaccinate the broader community should we have the opportunity.”
School district employees were scheduled to get the vaccine Thursday and Friday. They will receive their second doses next month.
“To know that our dedicated employees over the age of 65, who have continued to serve our children throughout this pandemic, now have this added layer of protection is incredibly gratifying,” said St. Johns County School District Superintendent Tim Forson.
The Flagler Health+ vaccination clinics are able to vaccinate as many as 600 people every day.
St. John’s County is also offering coronavirus vaccine appointments, but the latest round of appointments were all claimed within 20 minutes of opening Thursday morning.
More information on COVID-19 vaccinations in St. Johns county can be found here.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
