OKEECHOBEE — The good news: Okeechobee County has received 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
The bad news: That’s just half of what county officials were expecting.

“We were expecting 1,000 doses,” said Mitch Smeykal of the Okeechobee Emergency Operations Center. The Okeechobee County Health Department received 500 doses last week, he continued.

Raulerson Hospital received 200 doses, he added.

As of Dec. 27, 52 Okeechobee County residents had been vaccinated.

The first round of the vaccine is for health care providers and first responders. The hospital started vaccinating staff last week. The health department will vaccinate first responders and health care providers who are not affiliated with the hospital.

Smeykal said they estimate they will need 300 to 500 doses to cover the health care providers and first responders in the county, depending on how many people actually want to get the shots. He said so far, a lot more people want the shots than he expected.

He said Okeechobee Health Care Facility should start vaccinating staff and residents later this week. Vaccinations for long-term care facilities are being handled by CVS and Walgreen’s pharmacies.

“We should be getting weekly shipments,” said Smeykal.

According to the latest executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the next group to be vaccinated will be those over age 65.

At least initially, vaccinations for those over age 65 will be done by appointment through the health department.

Smeykal said the health department is already getting flooded with calls from those who want to make an appointment, but they can’t start making any appointments until they have vaccine available.

He said about 26% of Okeechobee County’s year-round population is over age 65. That’s more than 10,000 people. In addition, most of the winter residents are retirees over age 65. In a normal year, the snowbirds can swell the population by up to 20,000 people. It is unknown how many of the regular winter residents will make the trip south this year.

Two doses of the vaccine are required for each person.  The second Pfizer shot is administered 21 days after the first shot. Moderna’s second dose is given 28 days after the fist. Smeykal said both vaccines come frozen, but the Pfizer vaccine must be stored at extremely low temperatures. 

Smeykal advises everyone to stay calm and continue to take common-sense precautions against the spread of the virus.

“A pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Smeykal. Most pandemics run from 12 to 24 months, he explained.