Lake County says all appointments for 3,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been booked

LAKE COUNTY, Fla — The Florida Department of Health in Lake County announced Friday that they would no longer be scheduling appointments for COVID-19 immunizations.

The announcement came after officials said that all 3,000 vaccines they received from the state had been accounted for.

For residents like Bonnie Binneveld getting one of the coveted spots wasn’t easy.

“I tried calling I could not get through. I tried about 100 times I had two different numbers,” Binneveld said.

READ: Florida sets new single day COVID-19 record with 17,000 new cases

Health officials say they hope to finish the first round of vaccines this weekend. The vaccines were giving out by appointment on Friday and will again on Saturday. After that, health officials said the vaccines will be given out on a first-come first-served basis.

On Wednesday officials in Lake County announced they would begin offering COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk front-line health care workers and those who are 65 and older.

Shortly after the announcement health officials said demand was so high the phone system couldn’t handle the number of calls.

READ: Here’s where to find the COVID-19 vaccine in your county

Officials say they could receive the second shipment of the vaccine from the state as early as Monday and hope to begin administering vaccinations that day.

Aaron Kissler with the Department of Health in Lake County says once they do receive the next round of vaccines residents will not need to make an appointment.

“It’ll be first-come, first-serve. We’ll be putting numbers out on the cars in the morning and determine how many we can take for the day,” Kissler said.

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Persons over 65 will need identification and frontline workers will need to present a copy of their medical license, employee badge, or current pay stub to get the vaccine.

According to the state, as of Thursday, 2,321 people had been vaccinated in Lake County.

A list of Lake County immunization sites can be found here.

WFTV