Last call: Orange County Convention Center to stop giving 1st doses this weekend
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - If you're looking for a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, you'll soon have fewer options.
The Orange County Convention Center will stop giving them out after Saturday, May 1. This is just the first step in closing that site for good.
The county says it needs this space so they can hold conventions and other events and since demand for the vaccine is dwindling, the county will be opening smaller vaccination sites.
The site is set to close at the end of May.
Last week, the county reported the convention center site was operating at 50-percent and had a lot of open appointments. They’ve made the decision to shift first doses to other smaller sites to try to get to more people.
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"I believe from the community’s perspective that they know what the goal is at this point," said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. "So, even to those who are critics, when I say critics, I mean those who don’t believe the vaccine is something that is science-based and they don’t want to get it. I just hope that even they change their mind."
The county will be opening smaller vaccination sites at the following gymnasiums:
- Goldenrod Park Recreation Center: 4863 N Goldenrod Road, Winter Park
- Meadow Woods Recreation Center: 1751 Rhode Island Woods Circle, Orlando
- South Econ Recreation Center: 3850 S Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando
- West Orange Recreation Center: 309 SW Crown Point Road, Winter Garden
All of those locations will open on Tuesday.
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In addition to those sites, the county will also be adding a vaccine drive-thru lane at Barnett Park on Saturday that can do 750 Pfizer shots a day.
The gymnasium sites are walk-up sites and are not open on Mondays. They open up at 9 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday.