PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Thursday marks a turning point in how Palm Beach County continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and get people vaccinated.
It is the last day of operation for the mass vaccination site at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
The fairgrounds opened as a vaccination site in early February, the largest in the county. The Health Care District of Palm Beach County also operated mass vaccination sites in Palm Beach Gardens and Delray Beach, which closed earlier this month.
The Health Care District says it will administer 800 second dose shots of the Pfizer vaccine Thursday before closing up shop for good.
The mass vaccination sites were always designed as a temporary way to vaccinate as many people as possible before the vaccine supply started to grow at local pharmacies and other similar locations.
This comes as Palm Beach County and the state as a whole are meeting benchmarks for low community transmission of COVID-19.
The daily positivity rate in Palm Beach County has been below the target 5% every day for the past two weeks and so has the state's daily positivity rate, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The Health Care District now shifts its focus to its mobile units going out into the community to reach people more conveniently and also target communities with low vaccination rates.
A mobile unit will remain in the parking lot of the Lantana clinic on Southwinds Drive weekdays through June 4, with the exception of Memorial Day. Mobile units will also be strategically set up in Lake Worth this weekend as people are out and about for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The mobile units have the Pfizer vaccine and Johnson and Johnson, and you do not need an appointment. Kids 12 and older are eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine at these locations, as long as a parent is with them if they are 12-17 years old.
For a complete schedule, click here.
Almost 600,000 people in Palm Beach County are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.