Publix Super Markets announced today it will reopen its COVID19 vaccine registration portal for seniors on Wednesday. And Gov. Ron DeSantis said vaccines will be available at 81 CVS pharmacies in Florida, including two in Polk County.

It was not immediately clear yet which two Polk County CVS stores are involved. Most of the CVS pharmacies offering vaccinations are in South Florida. In Miami-Dade, 66 of the 67 stores offering shots are under the chain’s Navarro Discount Pharmacies and CVS y más labels, News Channel 8 reported.

UPDATE: By Wednesday afternoon, the CVS website showed the Polk County locations as Lakeland and Haines City. The Lakeland CVS with vaccine doses is at the corner of George Jenkins Boulevard and Wabash Street, according to the vaccinefinder.org website. Register here.

An estimated 62,000 doses will be available through Florida CVS locations each week, sourced through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, the governor’s office announced.

Florida residents ages 65 and older will be able to register later this week on the CVS website or mobile app.

DeSantis also said Tuesday that the next category of Florida residents who will be eligible for vaccines are teachers, police officers and firefighters 50 and older. He did not say when registrations would open for those groups.

Publix re-opens its vaccine portal at 7 a.m. Wednesday after having to skip the last three sign-up periods because vaccine shipments were delayed by foul weather in northern states. Publix typically opens its portal at 7 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Polk is one of 20 Florida counties where vaccines will be available at Publix pharmacies. The company lists 11 participating pharmacies in Lakeland and Mulberry.

The new appointments will be for Friday. Publix has said it has enough supplies on hand for people who have appointments for a second dose and urges those people to arrive at the scheduled time.

Updates can be found at publix.com/covidvaccine.

Foul weather also delayed last week’s shipment of Moderna’s COVID 19 vaccine to the Florida Department of Health’s Polk County office, with doses that were expected early in the week finally starting to arrive last Friday.

“We have appointments scheduled every day this week to accommodate the rescheduling of appointments from last week,” department spokeswoman Nicole Riley told The Ledger. “Our vaccinating partners are also working diligently to reschedule appointments and assist us with administering the vaccine we have at this time.”

In addition, the federal government announced last week that four mass vaccination sites will open in Florida March 3, including the old greyhound track in Tampa’s Seminole Heights and Valencia College West in Orlando. Each of the four centers is expected to accommodate 2,000 patients per day.

To register, call the phone number for the county or visit myvaccine.fl.gov.


SEND CORRECTIONS, questions, feedback or news tips: newstips@lkldnow.com

Loading...

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

  1. Can never get through, have been on hold for over 15 hours total and still have not no place. I’m 76 years old with 5 prexciting conditions and still nothing. Please hel me.

Leave a comment

Your Thoughts On This? (Comments are moderated; first and last name are required.)