SPRING HILL, Fla. — For four weeks, Paul Harter says he’s tried – and failed – to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment for his 82-year-old wife near their home.
She has lung issues. He was able to get his vaccine through the Department of Veterans Affairs. He would feel so much better, he said, if she could get hers, too.
Harter says he had issues early on accessing the county portal to sign up, so he’s mostly been trying to book an appointment through Publix or CVS.
No luck.
He’s considered making the drive to Lakeland, or Tampa’s federally run-site, even Tallahassee, but it’s simply too far.
“That’s a long drive for us,” he said. “Because of the problems with my wife’s arthritis we try not stay in a vehicle longer than 30 minutes, it’s difficult for us to travel long distances.”
In Hernando County, the vaccination rate among seniors has been lagging when compared to other counties across the Bay area. Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Brooksville two weeks ago to highlight this very issue.
“[The county] was in the bottom five of percentages of seniors that have been vaccinated in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the time. “So we said we're going to do something about it."
A pop-up site was opened later in the week at the High Point senior-living community in Brooksville.
On Monday, DeSantis announced Floridians 60 and older would be eligible on March 15. He said Florida could afford to expand eligibility because of demand among seniors is "softening."
But as more people are being allowed to get the vaccine in Florida, Harter says he feels stuck.
"It’s ridiculous that it should take this long to try to get her in," he said of his wife.
But then late Wednesday afternoon the Hernando County Department of Health tweeted there were still vaccine slots available for this week at the county fairgrounds.
Harter jumped on it. First, he tried calling the provided number, only to be told he couldn’t make an appointment over the phone until he was registered online.
He eventually was able to register his wife on the county portal and 40 minutes later successfully books a vaccine appointment for her.
“It’s unbelievable that this took this much work to get through,” he said. “But it feels great to be able to get something done with somebody’s help. I mean, I’ve tried so many different ways and your help is so greatly appreciated. You have no idea.”
More than 2.6 million Floridians 65 and older have been vaccinated, which is about 60 percent of the state's senior population.
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