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Update: Vaccinations by appointment at Lake Square Mall, Pfizer 2nd shots at Groveland site

Aaron Kissler, health officer for the Lake County Health Department, speaks to the County Commission on Tuesday. Image: Lake County video
Aaron Kissler, health officer for the Lake County Health Department, speaks to the County Commission on Tuesday. Image: Lake County video

Second-dose vaccinations with the Pfizer vaccine are underway at the Amazon Distribution Center in Groveland. Doses begin at 8 a.m.

Seniors seeking first doses can get in line until the car line is filled in the morning. Afternoon vaccinations are reserved for second doses. The line had reached capacity by 7:22 a.m. Wednesday and was open again by 9:45 a.m.

Also, coronavirus vaccinations have begun by appointment only at Lake Square Mall. They can be scheduled by calling 866-201-6909 (or 833-476-1031 for TTY users).

Pieces falling in place for increase in Lake County's mass vaccination effort

Key pieces are falling in place for the COVID-19 mass vaccination effort in Lake County.

Lake County started the day Tuesday with 23,000 doses in the freezer but a lot of that is going second shots.

The health department is doing those now and, in the short term, is looking for a new first-dose drive-in site as well.

Meanwhile, the county has leased the old Sears at Lake Square Mall for a state vaccination site.

Emergency Management Director Tommy Carpenter told county commissioners the store is the, quote, "perfect site" for vaccinations by appointment.

"With the Sears site large facility, county staff, department of health staff working together, I think that we can certainly ramp that up to be a high-volume-distribution vaccination center," he said.

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And Lake County will soon start using Florida's new vaccination appointment system.

Health officer Aaron Kissler says the shots will ramp up.

"I believe we put in for 700 a day starting out," he said. "And then we hope to get 2,000 and then up higher than that. And then at our second-dose sites, we're probably going to do somewhere between 15 (hundred) and 2,000 people a day."

[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Kissler.mp3"][/audio]

So far, at least 32,000 Lake County residents have gotten a shot.

Joe Byrnes came to WMFE/WMFV from the Ocala Star-Banner and The Gainesville Sun, where he worked as a reporter and editor for several years. Joe graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans and turned to journalism after teaching. He enjoys freshwater fishing and family gatherings.