A Florida city COVID vaccination site that responded to low demand on Saturday by vaccinating everyone found high demand on Sunday morning as it returned to state limitations.
The predictable disorganization occurred at the Florida City Youth Center, 650 NW Fifth Ave.
A Florida city policeman said through a megaphone: “If you don’t meet the criteria, you won’t be vaccinated today” against a 200-person streamer line, few of whom seemed to meet the criteria set out by Governor Ron DeSantis in the Executive Order 21-47: people over 65; residents and employees of long-term health institutions; direct contact with health officials; people over 50 in law enforcement, firefighters or K-12 school officials.
The site should open at 9am. At 9:18 am, no one had entered while the team tried to line up the people who were on the waiting list during Saturday’s all-comeers process and the Sunday people who fit the restrictions.
At around 11:30 am on Sunday, the line extended to around 270 people.
People were informed at a certain time during Sunday, if extra vaccines were available at 3 pm, they would be given to people in line, instead of being wasted. But at 2 pm, the team told people in the queue that they did not fit the qualifications that there would be no extra vaccines and that they were wasting time.
The FEMA-run site at 650 NW Fifth Ave. started on Saturday with restrictions. But when the flow of vaccination was slow, employees turned it into a vax meeting for everyone – 18 and over, bring your driver’s license or state ID card. The social media bell was rung and people took off on the US 1 and the Florida Turnpike to a town near the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, which rarely receives visitors from the north.
What had been a short line at noon snaked through the parking lot and went down an adjacent street at 2:30 pm. Shortly after 3 pm, a Florida city policeman lowered a pole and told people in the queue that the 500 vaccines would run the moment they reached the front of the queue.
While some people left, others stayed, were put on a list and told to come back on Sunday morning.
But at the same time, the team told people outside the Youth Center that on Sunday they would vaccinate only those that the governor said should be vaccinated. On Saturday night, FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde said that the FEMA team in the city of Florida was reminded of who should be vaccinated under state rules.
“We hope everything goes well,” said Bahamonde. “We also ask for adequate public participation in the process.”
State Sen. Annette Taddeo tweeted on Saturday night that things would also be open on Sunday, a tweet she checked and deleted at 9:38 am on Sunday.
– David J. Neal and Colleen Wright
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