FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — People 50 and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in Florida starting Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.
The announcement at a news conference in Tallahassee comes amid fears of a fourth wave of infections nationwide and evidence that vaccination sign-ups have been lagging at some sites.
“We think we’ve done pretty good this week with 60 to 64, but quite frankly we think that even with current vaccine allotments that opening it up will be good,” DeSantis said. “I think the demand has been relatively modest, certainly much more modest than it was at the end of December when we were doing 65 and plus.”
All age restrictions on vaccine eligibility will be lifted soon, DeSantis said.
“We’ll see how it goes next week,” he said. “But I think we will definitely be opening it up to everybody certainly before May 1, and it may be much sooner than that.”
In Orange County, for example, Mayor Jerry Demings announced Thursday that the age limit would drop to 40 at the Orange County Convention Center starting Monday, since doses were going unused amid what he called “depressed demand to be vaccinated.”
But despite lagging demand at some sites, there remains competition for appointments. The governor’s announcement is likely to intensify the scramble for doses, in which people scour webpages of providers such as Walmart and CVS for appointments and go on Facebook groups to share tips on how to obtain the shots.
More than 4.5 million people in Florida have been vaccinated so far, with the pace picking up in recent weeks with the expansion of eligibility and the increased availability of vaccine doses.
The most recent eligibility expansion prior to the governor’s announcement took place Monday, when people aged 60 and up were allowed access to the vaccines.
