ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida will get four federal COVID-19 vaccination sites starting March 3, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday.

The sites will be located in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, and will administer 2,000 vaccines a day. Each site will also have two mobile satellite sites that will distribute 500 vaccines per day in underserved areas as well. 

“My initial recommendation as many of you know has been to send us the doses because we have the infrastructure, they do want to do it through FEMA, so we said look, if its additional doses for Florida, so we want to participate," Gov. DeSantis said.

The sites will be located in the following places:

• Tampa Greyhound Track
  755 E. Waters Ave.,
  Tampa, FL, 33604
  
  
• Valencia College — West Campus
• 1800 S. Kirkman Rd.,
  Orlando, FL, 32811
  
  
• Gateway Mall
  5200 Norwood Ave.,
  Jacksonville, FL, 32208
  
  
• Miami Dade Community College (North Campus)
  11380 NW 27th Ave.,
  Miami, FL, 33167

The sites open on March 3 and will run seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The sites are operating through a partnership between FEMA, The U.S. Dept. of Defense, the Florida Dept. of Health, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and the Florida National Guard.

“The federal government will be deploying teams immediately to work hand in hand with state and local jurisdictions to get these sites set up, and we expect to get them all up and running in the next 2 weeks.” said Andy Slavitt, White House Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response.

Many seniors in Florida still have not gotten their COVID-19 vaccine, like 75-year-old Kathleen Burks.

She says she tries daily attempting to book an appointment. It’s an issue many Central Floridians have run into.

“You dial the number and it sounds like it is turning over and it doesn’t," said the Orange County resident. "You wait, you hang top, and you dial it again. Until you feel like you spent your whole day holding on.”

In just a few weeks, she says she’ll now try to get a vaccine less than a mile away from her apartment at the site coming to Valencia College in Orlando. Waiting to her will be well worth it.

“I ain’t gonna give up because I know I need it," Burks said. "I’m a diabetic so I know I need it.”

Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando, released a statement about the Orlando site.

“This new vaccination site is proof that the new administration is making fast, fair, and efficient vaccine distribution the top priority that it should be,” Demings said in a statement released by her office.

During a White House COVID-19 Response Team Briefing, federal officials said they worked closely with states on choosing locations.

"We are doing outreach and we are actually receiving. We are looking to incorporate what states' specific needs are. We do look specifically at the social vulnerability index of where these sites might go," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Orlando Commissioner Bakari Burns wants everyone to get the vaccine including those without internet access or transportation and those facing other obstacles. As an elected official and CEO of Orange Blossom Family Health, he knows some Central Floridians face more obstacles than others in accessing the vaccine.

Burns says as of Tuesday 58,261 White members of the community were vaccinated in Orange County compared to 7,233 Black. He’s optimistic the vaccination site coming to Valencia West will reduce that disparity.

“Up until this point, there is a huge disparity in the amount of African Americans who are receiving the vaccine,” he said.

“I’m encouraged that the site is a lot more accessible to communities of color,” he added.

But Burns still has concerns about equity in distribution, and thinks local clinics embedded in the community could contribute to closing the gap if they can get doses. Until then, he plans to explore other avenues including education outreach and mobile clinics to reach seniors who need not one but two appointments to get fully vaccinated.

To sign up to get the vaccine at these sites, you will need to preregister on the state's vaccine site.

The federal government has been working to open vaccine sites across the country to speed up vaccine distribution. Two sites opened in California earlier this month.

Reporter Rachael Krause contributed to this story.