TAMPA (WFLA) – Governor Ron DeSantis has expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to allow Floridians younger than 65 who have high-risk medical conditions to get the COVID-19 vaccine at doctors’ offices and pharmacies.
Executive order 21-46 allows physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to vaccinate people who “they deem extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.”
Previously only hospitals were in charge of vaccinating Floridians, under 65, but extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
The order now means people can get a COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy such as Walmart, Publix, and CVS but does not include the state and county-run vaccination sites.
Florida State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, of Orlando, has pushed for vulnerable people to be added to the state’s vaccine rollout after learning Walmart mistakenly offered the COVID-19 vaccine to Floridians who are under the age of 65 but are vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Smith said on Twitter: “A doctor’s note should be all that’s needed for medically vulnerable at vaccination pharmacies or clinics with the vaccine”
The order does not specify what documentation will be required when showing up for a vaccine appointment at a participating pharmacy.
