PAHOKEE – Palm Beach County’s use of Publix pharmacies for COVID-19 vaccinations left residents of the western Palm Beach County area without many options. For residents of ‘the Glades,’ the nearest Publix is 30 miles away. To make matters worse, appointments must be made online and some residents do not have internet access. Also, many rely on public bus transportation which makes it harder to get to an appointment.

When the state responded to the complaints from Glades mayors and set up vaccination pods in Pahokee and Belle Glade last week, local leaders decided to make sure the precious vaccine would go to Glades residents and not to vaccination “shoppers” from other counties.

Since the vaccination program started, residents of rural areas have complained out-of-county residents from urban areas have driven hours to line up for “first come, first serve” vaccination pods for shots, making the scarce vaccine even harder for rural residents to obtain. Because the vaccinations are federally funded, no one who could prove Florida residency can be turned away.

When the Glades vaccination pods were planned last week, officials made the decision to keep the information off the internet. Instead, information about the vaccination pods was shared via telephone and in person.

“Last week was super busy for the Guardians,” explained Tammy Jackson-Moore of Guardians of the Glades. “On Tuesday afternoon and throughout the night, we worked with the community to inform our seniors about an initiative led by the Anquan Boldin Foundation to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals 65 and older and frontline workers that was held on Wednesday.”

At the Feb. 9 meeting of the Pahokee City Commission, Commissioner Regina Bohlen thanked those who helped with the vaccination pod.

“I want to thank you to Anquan Boldin and Mr. (John) Davis for assistance with the vaccine. And many thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis for the quick response to our call for vaccine. Please thank the National Guard, the school police, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the traveling nurses who came in from all over the country,” she added.

She said special thanks go to those who provided lunch for the workers at the vaccination pod.

Bohlen said she learned of the event from Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, and like other community leaders, made phone calls until 11 p.m. to get the information out to the people.

“We were asked not to put it on Facebook, which was hard,” she said.

The commissioners noted not everyone who was eligible and knew about the vaccination pod wanted to be vaccinated. There are many people in the community who are still skeptical about the vaccine.

“A lot of people that I talked to did not want to take the vaccine,” said Commissioner Benny Everett. “I have 90-year-old people who do not want to take the vaccine.”

According to information shared at the meeting, 381 local residents were vaccinated at the Pahokee event.