Pinellas County updates Covid vaccine appointment system
February 9, 2021 - Pinellas County is changing the process for booking appointments for Covid-19 vaccinations. The move is designed to ease scheduling, officials said during Tuesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting. County residents 65 and older who have created accounts through the CDR Health Pro Patient Portal will be contacted directly to schedule their vaccination as new appointments become available in the coming weeks. For now, the first to register will be the first invited to make appointments. Residents can pre-register at the website or call 844-770-8548 to create an account or get help. To date, more than 94,000 people have received at least their first dose of the vaccine in Pinellas County, around 9.5 percent of the county’s population. About 10,000 people per week are being vaccinated at four public sites run by the Health Department and a fifth site with larger capacity has been identified and may come online as early as next week, officials said. Residents are registering for those vaccines at those sites using the patient portal, but many others are getting vaccinated through hospitals, health centers, long-term care facilities, and through pharmacies that recently began offering the vaccine.