MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — On Wednesday, Jan. 6, Manatee County Commissioners held an emergency meeting to discuss some changes to their online vaccine booking system. This comes after a slew of technical issues and complaints from people trying to get an appointment.
In today’s meeting, commissioners signed off on a modified COVID-19 vaccine registration process. They’re calling it, “the vaccine standby pool.”
“It will allow for a seamless transition to allow seniors 65 and over to register in a standby pool for future vaccines,” County Administrator Cheri Coryea said.
It's basically a waiting list.
"We're pleased to announce a new open-ended registration process that will help avoid some of the online registration challenges we encountered before," Coryea said.
Meaning, when the new system goes live at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday Jan. 7, seniors can start registering. And if you don't have access to a computer, you can call Manatee’s 311 phone line. They’ve ramped up their staff to meet the demand.
Here’s how you can join the standby pool:
- Online: On Thursday, Jan. 7 any time after 10 p.m., up to two people at a time can join the standby pool by filling out an online form HERE.
- By phone: On Friday, Jan. 8 anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. seniors ages 65 and older can dial the County's 311 Call Center to ask for help joining the vaccine standby pool. 311 Call Center operators can assist from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday.
NOTE: Manatee County will not be collecting financial information, social security numbers or other sensitive personal information. The vaccines being administered by the Department of Health are free to the public.
It doesn’t matter when you start the process and there’s no deadline for registering.
“It won't impact your chances of getting a vaccination appointment,” Coryea said.
And the reason for that is as vaccines become available, they will use a randomized selection process. Once names are chosen from the “pool”, 311 reps will call those pre-registered seniors and help them book an appointment for their vaccine shot.
The county is allowing family members to register together so they can carpool to their vaccine appointment.
The county says over time the list of names in the standby pool will grow. Whenever a new shipment of vaccines arrives, the same number of names will be pulled through their randomized selection process.
"If you’re over 65 and you'd like to be vaccinated, you need to get onto that waiting pool list," said Public Safety Director Jacob Saur. "As soon as the Department of Health get doses in, we get them right back out. That is the number one priority."
Coryea says this updated process offers several advantages.
“Seniors without internet access will now have the same ability to receive an appointment,” Coryea said. “Those with internet access can register anytime on any day, and also, there will no longer be a race to book appointments online.”
On the day of the appointment, seniors will need this:
- An email receipt or unique number they receive from the 311 Call Center
- A Department of Health consent form (CLICK HERE TO ACCESS) (311 callers can assist with the form for those without internet access)
- A valid ID showing age 65 or older
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