JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than 30% of vaccines allotted to five vaccination sites in Jacksonville were not used as of Monday, First Coast News found after crunching numbers given to FCN by the state.
According to a state official, 124,701 doses were administered at the five sites combined as of Monday. Those sites, Gateway, its two satellite sites, the Edward Waters College site and the Regency site, had the capacity to give about 184,600 doses since the end of January when the first of the five, Regency, opened, through Monday.
On Monday alone, about 39% of shots went unused at the five sites combined. According to a state official, 4,014 doses were administered total out of an available 6,500.
Monday was the same day Governor Ron DeSantis lowered the age requirement to get a shot to 50 and older.
At the Gateway site, Jacksonville's largest vaccination site, Monday, almost half of the shots available went unused. The site is able to administer 3,000 per day. It administered 1,570 Monday.
The Edward Waters College site, which can give 500 per day, administered 173 Monday.
Monday's overall numbers, however, were better than the three days that preceded it. Sunday, the sites administered 2,038 total. Saturday, the sites administered 2,997 total. Friday the sites administered 2,836 total.
About 69% unused Sunday, 54% unused Saturday and about 56% unused Friday.
State officials have stressed they are not throwing away shots at sites. They said a shot in an arm is better than one thrown away, even if it's given to someone who doesn't meet the state's criteria.
Mia Jones, CEO of Agape Family Health Care which runs the Edward Waters College site with the state, said at the end of the day, if there's extra vaccine in a syringe, they will give it to whoever is in line.
Jones said this rarely happens, but it is better to give it to someone, even if that person may not qualify, than to throw it out.
"[We don't throw out doses] not on my watch," Jones said. "We won't throw anything away. We will make sure, if we've got to sit there and wait for somebody to show up, we will get it into somebody's arm. This is like liquid gold," she said.
Agape, the state and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority started Wellness on wheels last week, a mobile vaccine clinic. Jones said part of the drive to start the clinic and bring the vaccine into the community was due to the low number of people coming to the site.
DeSantis said Tuesday all adults will be eligible for a shot "way before May 1."