COVID-19 Vaccine: Publix receives 70K new doses, says glitch in online system has been fixed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —

People 65 and older can try to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in the next round of Publix appointments in Florida.

The state has given an additional 70,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the store to distribute in counties across the state, including St. Johns.

69-year-old Les Hankinson got his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Publix on Monday.

“I feel like I’ve hit the lottery.”

But getting the appointment for him and his wife wasn’t total smooth sailing.

“When the system is busy, but the vaccinations are available it tells you try again shortly,” explains Hankinson.

So he just kept refreshing his webpage before he finally got through—something he did over 200 times to get his and his wife’s appointments.

“It seems nuts to have to sit there and hit refresh 200 times over an hour of time, which is about how long it was, but the bottom line is I got an appointment in an hour.”

Publix tells Action News Jax, “In order to throttle our system, and prevent it from crashing, we allow a limited number of customers into the que. Once customers have exited the que, additional customers are able to enter the que.”

The one thing that Hankinson says might fool those trying to make appointments, is when it asks you if you are a Publix employee or have Medicare and to select one.

Hankinson says he selected Medicare but it wouldn’t let him put in his number.

So instead he de-selected Medicare and just pressed continue without selecting anything and it still let him make the appointment.

And he’s glad it did.

“Compared to people standing in the cold waiting hours it was easy breezy.”

Publix tells us the Medicare entry has been fixed, so you should be able to put in your number in without any issues.

As of right now, St Johns County is the only local county involved in the Publix vaccination distribution, but we’re told as more doses become available, the program will expand to other counties.

Customers aged 65+ must make an appointment and can do so by using the online reservation system at publix.com/covidvaccine starting on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 6 a.m. for appointments beginning Thursday, Jan. 21 – and again on Friday, Jan. 22 for appointments beginning Saturday, Jan. 23.

Publix Pharmacy will administer the vaccine in the following counties: Bay, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Lee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, St. Johns, Santa Rosa, Volusia and Walton, while supplies last.

A full list of Florida pharmacies offering appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine has been added to the bottom of this story.

Customers can also use the online reservation system to learn if appointments are available at a nearby Publix.

Appointments cannot be made by calling Publix or the Publix Pharmacy.

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Cox Media Group