THE VILLAGES, Fla. — A mass COVID-19 vaccination site in The Villages touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month has been shut down due to a shortage of vaccines, leaving residents of this massive senior community in north Central Florida with fewer options for getting appointments.

Bob Fuhst, who lives in The Villages, wants to guard himself and his wife against getting sick from COVID-19 and as an eligible senior, hoped to get their shots as soon as possible.

They haven’t been able to get one, but it's not for a lack of trying. Fuhst says he gets up early many mornings and tries to get an appointment at one of the Publix vaccine locations in his area.

“I sit there at the computer, which you have to do because it refreshes every minute,” Fuhst said.

Fuhst had planned to get vaccinated at the Buffalo Ridge Plaza in Sumter County, where on January 12, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that a mass distribution site there would vaccinate 800 seniors a day and, eventually, 150,000 seniors in 90 days.

But the site’s operator, Global Medical Response, said that on January 16 — just four days later — it had to pause vaccinations because shipments of the vaccine hadn't come.

A spokesperson for the Sumter County Health Department said it's now in the process of administering shots to people who had signed up at the Buffalo Ridge site. Those vaccinations are happening at the Wildwood Community Center. The Health Department said it’s used about 1,000 of its own doses for those vaccinations.

GMR, the company that was operating the mass distribution site, said it will be able to open the site again when it gets more vaccine from the state and federal government.  

Meanwhile, Fuhst is trying to secure an appointment for a vaccine somewhere.

“It's very frustrating,” Fuhst said. “So now they tell you to come back Monday for Wednesday.”

And that means he and his wife will have to go even longer without getting protected from severe COVID-19.

“They say in the near future, but who knows when,” Fuhst said.