A federal vaccine center in Jacksonville can process 500 people a day. Only 29 got the chance on Thursday

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As more vaccines become available, demand appears to be declining in Duval County.

At a federal site in Jacksonville with a capacity for 500 people, only 29 got the chance on Thursday.

Thousands of doses have been made available at new federal locations in Jacksonville, but so far only a third of that supply appears to be used every day.

On Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the demand problem. He said the age restriction will be lowered sometime in March.

But right now, there are those who don’t meet the age requirement on the sites, hoping to get leftover photos.

With teachers of all ages eligible for the vaccine, there is a steady stream of people at the federal vaccination site in the Gateway Mall, but only a trickle of people at the two satellite locations in Jacksonville. Partly for this reason, the governor will announce more changes to the age requirements in the near future.

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“We will be taking an age-based approach in the future. It will happen in March. We will lower the age. I don’t have that exact date because it depends on the vaccine supply and it depends on whether we get injections in the arms for seniors, ”said DeSantis.

He said the minimum age will more than likely be lowered from 65 to 60 and then down to 55, and an announcement will be made later this month.

The announcement comes as demand appears to be weakening.

At the Gateway Mall site, 840 injections were given Thursday at a site set up to administer 2,000 vaccines per day. At the two satellite sites, 150 people were vaccinated at the Westside site at the Normandy Community Center on Lindsey Road, but only 29 people got the shot at the Northwest Jacksonville site at Hammond Senior Center on West 12th Street. Each of the satellite locations has the capacity to take 500 images per day.

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At the state site in the Regency Mall, the latest figures from Wednesday show that 1,780 shots were delivered at a location capable of handling 2,000 first and second doses.

Edward Waters College can vaccinate 200 people a day, and on Thursday it gave 247 injections because staff say it got extra doses from the vials.

News4Jax spoke to health experts in Jacksonville about the impact of lowering age requirements for the vaccine. One expert said the younger population may not be too keen to get vaccinated.

Is the question there? Obviously, people like me in public health and epidemiology want as many people as possible to get vaccinated. But it doesn’t mean those people want to be vaccinated for different reasons, ”says Chad Neilsen of UF Health. “Maybe they have prejudices about the vaccine, maybe they just aren’t sure yet. But that’s okay. It means that we have to learn more. “