COVID-19 vaccinations to start at Walmart, Sam's Club on Friday

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Starting on Friday, COVID-19 vaccinations will begin at more than 100 Walmart and Sam's Club stores across Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is expecting to receive more than 65,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine this week as part of the Federal Pharmacy Program.

That supply will be sent to hundreds of Publix, Walmart, Sam's Club, and Winn-Dixie pharmacies throughout Florida.

"We're gonna continue to work hard. You just can't let up when it comes to the vaccine," DeSantis said at a news conference in Port Charlotte on Thursday.

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Vaccinations started Thursday at 43 Winn-Dixie pharmacies in Florida, including one at 2950 Southwest 9th Street in Vero Beach. According to Winn-Dixie's COVID-19 vaccine website, all appointments are booked statewide.

However, appointments are still open at Walmart and Sam's Club locations.

Starting on Friday, the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered at the following Walmart stores in our viewing area:

• 5100 Okeechobee Road, Fort Pierce
• 2101 South Parrott Avenue, Okeechobee
• 10855 South U.S. 1, Port St. Lucie
• 1850 Southwest Gatlin Boulevard, Port St. Lucie
• 902 Southwest St. Lucie West Boulevard, Port St. Lucie

The vaccine will also be administered at this Sam's Club location in our viewing area:

• 1750 Southwest Gatlin Boulevard, Port St. Lucie

To make an appointment at Walmart right now, visit Walmart's COVID-19 vaccine website and click "Schedule Now."

Next, search for one of the participating Walmart pharmacies in Florida. To see a full list of Walmarts that are administering the COVID-19 vaccine, click here.

On the following screen, confirm that you're eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. You must be a Florida resident who's 65 or older, a health care provider who has "direct contact with patients," a resident or staff member at a long-term care facility, or a Florida resident deemed to be "extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 by hospital providers."

You'll then get a list of all available dates and times for vaccine appointments. Keep in mind that many of appointment slots are booked for the next several days.

The process to make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Sam's Club is very similar. You can access the Sam's Club COVID-19 vaccine website byclicking here.

"We have 119 Walmart and Sam's Club stores across 34 counties. So starting tomorrow morning, you're gonna have seniors being able to get shots at all those Walmarts," DeSantis said on Thursday. "That's gonna be a good starting point."

In addition to Walmart, Sam's Club, and Winn-Dixie, around 600 Publix pharmacies in 41 Florida counties continue offering the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible Florida residents.

The next window to make an appointment at Publix will open on Friday at 7 a.m., followed by Monday at 7 a.m.

To book an appointment at Publix,click here.

Earlier this week, DeSantis said Florida is due to receive 325,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government this week, which is up from 307,000 doses last week and 266,000 doses that Florida had been receiving weekly before that.

"That puts us in a much, much better spot in terms of vaccine supply than we have been," DeSantis said.

According to the latest numbers from the Florida Department of Health, 2,110,794 people in Florida have received the COVID-19 vaccine, including 1,557,223 seniors who are 65 and older.