LEE COUNTY, Florida – Hundreds of people set up camp in Lee County on Tuesday night to wait in line for a COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday morning.
As of 6:30 am, all three vaccination sites in Lee County are full. Afternoon vaccine sessions are closed as assigned doses have been assigned.
Additional sites will open next week.
Vaccinations are scheduled at three different locations:
- North Fort Myers: North Fort Myers Rec. Centro
- Cape Coral: Teatro Parque Cultural
- Fort Myers: Lakes Regional Park Library
Each site received 800 doses of the vaccine on Wednesday.
Vaccines are only for people aged 65 and over, or healthcare professionals.
People started waiting in line for the vaccine as early as Tuesday morning.
Abdulla Benkhatar, 90, has been in line since 10am on Tuesday. He is first in line at North Fort Myers Rec. Center.
“It is very difficult,” he said. “We have been at home for almost 10 months. It is very important for me, for my health and to be able to do things that I like to do and get back to normal. ”
Benkhatar said he is excited to see his grandchildren again.
To the south, at the Regional Library of the Lakes, dozens started lining up Tuesday night to mark their place in the queue.
People brought extra jackets, chairs, blankets and mini-tent. Just before 4 am, it looked like there were over 300 people waiting in line.
At the Cape Coral Cultural Park Theater, people also lined up on Tuesday night, some waiting in their cars, even bringing trailers.
Vaccinations are not scheduled to begin before 9 am
On Mondays and Tuesdays, the first days of vaccine application, the sites reached maximum capacity in the early hours of the morning.
The Department of Health has not yet released details of upcoming vaccine locations in Lee County.