LAKE CITY, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Lake City on Thursday morning to announce another new drive-thru vaccine site.
The site, located at the Southside Sports Complex on SW Bascom Norris Drive, will administer 1,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, DeSantis said.
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“Basically this is part of our effort to surge vaccines to areas that are performing a little bit below the state average in terms of senior coverage,” DeSantis said.
According to the most recent report from the Florida Department of Health, just over 45% of seniors in Columbia County have received at least one shot. DeSantis said 55 of the 67 counties in Florida have more than 50% of their seniors vaccinated. But rural counties in Florida tend to be below the state average, he added.
The governor also highlighted other Northeast Florida counties that are well above the state average when it comes to vaccinating seniors, including St. Johns County (79%) and Nassau County (74%).
“There’s some that don’t want the vaccine and that’s totally fine. There’s not going to be any mandates on the vaccine, but to have those kinds of numbers and I think North Florida has really done a good job,” DeSantis said.
As the vaccine supply increases, DeSantis said he will continue to lower the age of those who are eligible for vaccinations.
DeSantis on Thursday also announced that 16 Walgreens pharmacies in Jacksonville will begin administering shots.
Previously, just 12 Walgreens stores in the state were offering the vaccine, but that will now expand to 97. The rest of the stores will be spread across 18 additional counties including Clay, Alachua, Bradford and Nassau.
