Lakeland-based grocery giant Publix announced that the website that allows seniors to sign up to receive the COVID-19 vaccination at one of its many locations around Florida, will reopen at 6 a.m on Wednesday, Jan. 27 and again at 6 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 29.
Tomorrow’s sign-up window will be for time slots on Thursday and Friday time slots, while Friday’s window will be for weekend reservations. For those of you who are 65 and older and can prove that you’re a Florida resident, the website to sign up is publix.com/covid-vaccine/florida.
The state’s partnership with the grocery chain to host the vaccination program now covers 261 locations in 20 counties. Each location can do about 100-125 vaccines per day.
As of now, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties are not included.
Demand for the vaccine has been extremely high, which is why both DeSantis and Publix were criticized last week after only providing the treatments at locations within counties Republicans firmly won in the 2020 election.
“I think the thing that separates, like a Duval from a Flagler or Collier, is Duval has a really strong hospital system,” DeSantis said. “You’ve got many hospitals, a lot of them have gotten doses. I know people have gotten shots at a bunch of these different places.”
Though he says there’s no connection, it’s worth mentioning that Publix recently donated $100,000 to the DeSantis reelection PAC.
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This article appears in Jan 21-27, 2021.