Gov. DeSantis Announces Narvarro Pharmacies & CVS Y Mas Will Begin COVID Vaccinations In Miami-Dade

HIALEAH (CBSMiami) - Miami-Dade residents 65 and older will be able to make an appointment for a COVID vaccination at every Navarro Discount Pharmacy and every CVS y mas pharmacy in Miami-Dade.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the new development at a Navarro Discount Pharmacy in Hialeah Tuesday morning.

There are 31 Navarro Discount Pharmacies and 35 CVS y mas pharmacies in the county.

DeSantis also announced that 15 traditional CVS stores in the state will also be offering the vaccine. One of those is in Miami-Dade, two are in Broward. They were selected to help make sure the vaccine reached underserved areas.

Those eligible can schedule an appointment beginning Wednesday at CVS.com. People without online access can contact CVS customer
service at (800) 746-7287. Walk-in vaccinations without an appointment will not be provided.

"Once appointments are made, vaccinations will begin later this week. They think Thursday. The vaccine is supposed to arrive today. But once you go on tomorrow, you'll be able to select and make an appointment," said DeSantis.

The governor said each site will perform more than 100 vaccinations per day. He added that if they get more supply, they may be able to scale up vaccinations per day.

"This is going to be very significant I think for this area. This is the first place we did a big drive-thru site at Hard Rock Stadium. You have a great health system, Jackson has been getting shots out. There have been other things that have been done. But this really provides a strong retail pharmacy footprint for Miami-Dade County," said DeSantis.

The governor said retail pharmacies have been a key component in getting shots in the arms of seniors.

DeSantis said the state has so far vaccinated well over two million seniors.

"More than 75 percent of every dose that has been administered in Florida has gone to senior citizens. And we are going to hopefully hit very soon 50 percent of all seniors in Florida will have received a shot," he said.

The governor said 42 percent of seniors in Miami-Dade have gotten one shot and having the retail pharmacies now in the picture will bring that number up dramatically.

In Broward, 52 percent of seniors have received at least one shot, according to DeSantis.

A number of Miami-Dade leaders were invited to the Hialeah announcement, however, one wasn't - Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández.

The mayor said in the past his city has been snubbed by the state in its efforts to the vaccine. He's said DeSantis seems to have a problem with him but didn't elaborate.

Hernández showed up at the event. He tried asking DeSantis a question after it was over, but the governor walked away. The mayor then spoke out.

"First of all, I am very grateful to CVS and Navarro for doing this. I was not invited to this just like I was not invited to a previous meeting even though Hialeah is one of the cities most affected by COVID. They talked about no politics but you saw it here in plain picture. The important thing is, and what I wanted to let the governor know, is that local governments are ready to work to help CVS and these places distribute these vaccinations. But again, I don't know why he doesn't want to talk to me or invite me anywhere when Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in the state and one of the most affected," Hernández said.

"I just wanted to hear what he had to say and he didn't say much about Hialeah, to be honest with you, and the needs we have in our community," he added.

All vaccine sites in Florida are posted on the Florida Department of Health's website here.