All Publix stores in the Keys will have COVID vaccine — and the college has more doses

More places are offering the COVID-19 vaccine in the Florida Keys.

Eligible Florida residents can now get vaccinated at Winn-Dixie stores in Key West and Tavernier, and at all Publix stores along the island chain.

Also, the College of the Florida Keys is having a second mass vaccination event on Sunday.

Last weekend nursing students at the college administered 400 doses to people who were already on a registration list compiled by the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County. This time, the college has 300 doses. But once again, the shots at the college have all been reserved.

“People cannot schedule their own appointments,” college spokeswoman Amber Ernst-Leonard said.

That health department’s vaccination appointment list includes healthcare professionals and people 65 and older and had been made between late December and early January, so the list was made before the state’s registration website, https://myvaccine.fl.gov/, went up

On Monday, the health department received 500 doses from the state, said spokeswoman Alison Kerr. Of the 500, 300 were reserved for the college on Stock Island, 100 went to Lower Keys Medical Center and the rest will be administered at health department sites in the Keys.

Unlike at the college vaccine site, people can make appointments for the pharmacies offering shot in the Keys.

Which pharmacies have the vaccine in the Keys?

In addition to five Publix stores in the Keys, two Winn-Dixie pharmacies in Monroe County will administer the vaccine through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program — one each in the Lower and Upper Keys.

The Winn-Dixie pharmacies are offering vaccinations at:

• Key West: 2778 N. Roosevelt Blvd.
• Tavernier: 92100 Overseas Highway

Go to https://www.winndixie.com/pharmacy/covid-vaccine for appointment information.

Publix has five locations in the Keys and all will be receiving the shots this week, according to Kerr.

These Publix pharmacies have been approved to give the shots:

• Key West: Key Plaza, 1112 Key Plaza, and Searstown Shopping Center, 3316 N. Roosevelt Blvd.
• Marathon: 5407 Overseas Highway
• Key Largo: Tradewinds Plaza, 101437 Overseas Highway.
• Islamorada: 83268 Overseas Highway

Go to https://www.publix.com/covid-vaccine/florida for appointment information.

Where else is the vaccine administered?

Vaccines are also being administered at three Florida Department of Health-run sites in the Keys.: the Gato Building in Key West, the Ruth Ivins Center in Marathon and the Roth Building on Plantation Key.

Some people are continuing to call the Monroe health department to complain they can’t get an appointment at Publix, Kerr said.

“It has nothing to do with the health department operation,” Kerr said, of the pharmacy program. “We don’t get near as many as Publix. We keep emphasizing to people to keep trying Publix because that is where the state is sending the majority of the doses.”

COVID in the Keys

On Wednesday, the state’s latest vaccine report showed 3,917 people in Monroe County have completed the series of two doses.

The Keys have a known total of 5,515 cases and 42 deaths.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 4:00 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.