Manatee County will contact residents in vaccine standby pool through automated system Friday

Consumer confidence rising as COVID-19 falls

Growing access to vaccines are expected to renew consumer confidence and drive more sales at local businesses this year, according to the Florida Retail Federation.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Manatee County officials want certain residents to know they will be contacting them about vaccination appointments on Friday morning, starting at 9 a.m.

The county will begin scheduling 7,650 vaccine appointments using new automated booking system. Seniors and healthcare workers who are in the county’s vaccine standby pool may receive a call from (941) 742-4300 or text from 88911.

Officials said it is the same number used to book appointments for several weeks. The appointments will be booked for March 3 to 5 at Tom Bennett Park.

Recipients will be randomly selected from the standby pool. When selected, that resident will receive an automated phone call or test. County officials said they will also receive a text message from 88911 and/or an email if you provided a mobile phone number or email address with your registration.

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Those who are notified of an appointment should respond quickly. Those who do not respond within two hours will be placed back in the standby pool.

When the call or text arrives, seniors will see three options:

Select 1 if you can attend the scheduled appointment date and time.
Select 2 if you cannot attend the scheduled appointment date and time. You will be entered back into the standby pool to be selected at another time.
Select 3 if you have already received the vaccine and/or want to be removed from the standby pool.

After selecting one of these options, the recipient will receive a follow-up message via phone, text and/or email confirm your appointment date, time and location. View a brief video on the new notification process here.

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