NAPLES, Fla. — Nearly 19,000 people have now been vaccinated for COVID-19 in Southwest Florida. The majority have only received dose one. Since then, There have been a lot of questions surrounding how appointments for dose two will work.
Fox 4's Jessica Alpern has been pushing for answers. She confirmed new details from The Department of Health in Collier County. The DOH said it would have designated times for those who received dose one through them when it comes time for dose two. It added that people would receive an email in approximately three weeks, reminding them that they will need to schedule dose two.
There's been concern about this issue across Southwest Florida, where vaccines have been administered to those 65 and older and frontline healthcare workers the past two weeks.
People want to know that there's a plan in place for them to get dose two before they receive the first shot since the Moderna vaccine does require two doses to be effective.
People have been concerned over the timeline of this. Moderna said you need to receive dose two one month after the first.
When Lee County first opened sites, it asked people to make sure they ask for a reminder card telling them when they should get dose two. Many tell Fox 4 they were instructed to come back between 28 to 30 days for the next dose. However, the vaccination provider couldn't answer questions on where those shots would happen, and if people could make an appointment. This was before they had a reservation system in place.
It's left many questions, including for Rob and Michele Crane, North Naples, who waited hours to receive the first dose at the Bonita Springs vaccine site last week.
"Right now, we've seen no information at all on if it's going to be offered, where it's going to be offered, how to get an appointment. I don't think they really thought that one through too well," said Rob Crane.
"She wrote down on the piece of paper that we should keep checking with lee.gov/vaccine and that we would be able to find out at that site," added Michele Crane.
But right now, the site says that the reservation call center is closed, and there are no appointments out that far.
The Cranes live in Collier County. Shortly after they drove to Lee County and waited hours in line for dose one, Collier started offering appointments.
Now that we know Collier will be designated times for those who received dose one to get dose two, it's good news for the more than 5,000 who have been vaccinated there. Along with those who are scheduled to get the first shot Wednesday through Friday in Collier.
Like nearly 11,000 others, the Cranes are still waiting for more details from Lee County DOH.
They can also get the second shot elsewhere, but since they didn't get the first shot in Collier County, they wouldn't be able to have a designated time set aside for them.
