Orange County has come up with a plan to vaccinate 65+ residents at the Convention Center

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. Orange County leaders have unveiled a plan to vaccinate older residents and update the community on broader COVID-19 vaccination plans, including a website, app, text message, email and community centers.

The Orange County Department of Health began administering shots to paramedics and paramedics at the Orange County Convention Center on Saturday.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said starting Tuesday, people 65 and older can get their vaccines at the Orange County Convention Center between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Appointments are required and only Orange County residents are eligible.

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Residents can register at OCFL.net/vaccines, where they can also sign up for email updates to learn more about vaccine distribution. Here is the direct link to register and this link contains step-by-step registration instructions.

Dr. Raul Pino, Orange County health officer, said people who make an appointment will receive text and email reminders and that when it is time to come back for their second dose, they will receive reminders again. Residents will make an appointment on the spot for their second dose once they have received the first dose.

The province will provide updates via SMS when people text OCFLCOVID to 888777. Leaders are also working to train 311 operators to provide COVID-19 vaccine updates. Downloading the OCFL Alert app is also recommended.

For people without smartphones or computers, community centers will offer registration for the vaccine. In Orange County, the community centers of East Orange, Taft, Holden Heights and Center Hills will have staff available to help people 65 and older register for vaccination appointments.

In Orlando, the Beardall Senior Center on Delaney Avenue and L. Claudia Allen Senior Center on Mable Butler Avenue will be available to help residents register, said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

“Rolling out vaccines will take time and we know it will take several months for everyone to have access,” said Dyer. “Wear your mask, help stop spreading.”

The goal is to vaccinate 1,500 residents per day at the Orange County Convention Center. The shots are free, but insurance information is collected in case the government can be reimbursed.

Pino said residents will receive the Moderna vaccine on-site and then be issued a card with a lottery number in case that information is needed in the future.

‘That map is important. The system will generate a map and archive a map on the webpage and you will be given a physical map and our advice is that you take a picture of that map and save it on your mobile device if you have one so that you can just in the future, ”said Pino.

Those who receive the vaccine should wait a 15 minute observation period to make sure they don’t experience any side effect. Pino said he has not heard of anyone having a reaction, but doctors and paramedics will be on standby to administer assistance if needed.

As for other tips, Pino suggested driving slowly and carefully through the site and being patient as it will take some time for the footage to be available to the entire population.

So what we’re asking you is just be patient, we’ll get to you. We do everything we can to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible, ”says Pino.

Mobile pods will also enter certain part of nine residential complexes from Tuesday to inoculate residents there. Pino said it is an effort to ensure low-income Central Floridians have access to the vaccine.

“We are interested in access to minorities, people of color, socio-economically handicapped individuals in our society, as well as people who do not have access to healthcare or providers. So these mobile pods are going to target that type of population to access it, ”said Pino.

Next Monday, neighboring Seminole County also started vaccinating people over the age of 65. The vaccination site is located in the Oviedo Mall and residents must also make arrangements.

For more vaccine distribution plans in Central Florida, click here.