St. Johns County

COVID-19 vaccine: St. Johns County not getting new vaccine allotment this week from state

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. —

St. Johns County announced Monday it did not receive a new allotment of COVID-19 vaccines from the Florida Department of Health this week.

The county said all vaccines from the previous two allotments have been distributed to the public. St. Johns County Chair of Commissioners Jeremiah Blocker said between the county and Flagler Hospital, there have been roughly 4,800 vaccines administered.

Commissioner Blocker said the county was hoping to get more doses this week.

Action News Jax sent an email to the Florida Department of Health to ask for an explanation as to why St. Johns County didn’t receive a new batch of vaccines.

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Action News Jax also asked how the health department decides to doll out doses to each county and for a breakdown of the vaccines allotted to surrounding counties.

The health department said it’s working on the requests.

It has seniors like Philip Goldenberg and his wife worried about potential delays in protecting a vulnerable population.

“We’re pretty interested in getting it as quickly as we can because obviously like a lot [of] other seniors we haven’t seen our grandkids in a long time,” Goldenberg said.

Goldenberg said receiving the COVID-19 vaccine would be life-changing, but it’s been hard to get the shot.

“It shouldn’t be this difficult,” Goldenberg said. “It’s been very frustrating.”

Calvin Grabau shares the same frustrations. He said he takes care of his parents, who are in their 80s, and has been trying to get them vaccinated.

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“I understand there are thousands of people in St. Johns County that want the vaccine, but trying to get an appointment has proved to be near impossible,” Grabau said.

Grabau said it’s unacceptable for St. Johns County to not receive a new allotment.

“I mean, give us a couple hundred or something,” Grabau said. “Why are we getting none for an entire week?”

Action News Jax is also working to learn a timeline for when St. Johns County could get more COVID-19 vaccines. As soon as we find out, we’ll keep you updated.