WEST PALM BEACH — During an afternoon news conference at the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center on Jan.7, County Mayor Dave Kerner updated residents on the current state of vaccination within Palm Beach County. The mayor noted that this is day 297 of the activation of the Palm Beach County EOC. He signed the 44th Local State of Emergency this week.

Mayor Kerner said that the Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management (PBCDEM) is supporting State efforts of the Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County (FDOH) and the Health Care District of Palm Beach County (HCD) to vaccinate priority populations in accordance with the Governor’s Executive Order number 20-315. The COVID-19 vaccination allotment and distribution of the vaccine is under control of the State of Florida through its Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Vaccine supply has been limited (FDOH-Palm Beach received 24,000 doses) since the beginning and likely will be limited for some time, so the initial allocation of doses must focus on priority populations with subsequent expansion to broader populations as supplies grow. Palm Beach County area hospitals received separate allocations directly from the state and must dispense according to the emergency order. Long-term care facilities and nursing homes vaccinations are being managed under federal and state initiatives.

Based on the governor’s announcement on Jan. 4, 2021, there will be some deployment by the State directly to churches in underserved communities. The county will support these effort as needed. Federally Qualified Health Centers in the county will be receiving vaccines and proceeding with registering the high priority population to receive vaccinations at their facilities.

The mayor stressed that the focus now is keeping each other safe until the vaccine is widely distributed.

Dr. Alina Alonso from FDOH-Palm Beach said they are currently vaccinating 500 people per day including health care personnel and persons 65 years of age or older that have requested an appointment through their email system. Emails sent into FDOH requesting a vaccination will be held in queue, and as vaccine doses become available, those individuals will be contacted by FDOH. Vaccination appointments are based on vaccine availability. They have the capability to vaccinate 1,000 people per day, but not the vaccine supplies to do that.

Doses coming into Palm Beach County is under the control the State. “We understand that the amount of doses and the priority vaccination population is vastly different. This wide disparity between supply and demand has driven the vaccination strategy to face the challenge of not having sufficient doses to implement large-scale vaccination operations at this time,” Alonso explained.

As the vaccine supply increases over the next several months, vaccination efforts and vaccination strategy will be expanded. This strategy will utilize fixed regionally located vaccination centers, points of distribution, clinic operations, and mobile pop-up community sites. Palm Beach County is ready, prepared and equipped to facilitate the mass distribution of vaccines. Our current challenge is in the lack of supply. It is our hope that the vaccine will become more readily available for distribution in the coming weeks. Therefore, we need to remain steadfast and not let our patience run thin after we have been so strong and resilient as we enter our 11th month dealing with COVID-19.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg stated that there are scams around the state that are charging for the vaccine. There is no cost for the vaccine except possibly a $15 registration fee charged by some. There have been no cases of vaccine fraud in Palm Beach County so far.

Commissioners Marino, Weiss, Sachs, McKinlay and Bernard all reiterated Dr. Alonso and Mayor Kerner’s points and they each pledged to support the Department of Health and do whatever is needed to secure more vaccine and ensure the distribution of it to as many county residents as possible, as quickly as possible.