When will Miami-Dade get a drive-up site for COVID-19 vaccinations? Depends on supply

With Miami-Dade’s early deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine not enough to meet intense demand, county leaders see the coming week as opening up the process to a far larger set of people eligible for the doses.

The first test comes Tuesday when Jackson Health, the county-funded hospital system, launches a website aimed at booking 2,000 vaccination appointments per day — slots reserved for people 65 and over, in compliance with state rules.

This week will also see Miami-Dade’s county government expand distribution of its own supply of 5,000 vaccine doses, with injections planned for people 65 and over who either live in county housing complexes or are county employees.

There’s also a chance Miami-Dade will get its first drive-up vaccination site soon, a welcome development for elected officials under pressure to show progress in a rollout that’s already sparked fury from seniors elsewhere in Florida forced to wait hours for appointments and seeing registration websites melt down under intense demand.

“This is what I’m getting asked from everybody,” said Danielle Cohen Higgins, Miami-Dade’s newest county commissioner. “When am I getting vaccinated? How? Where?”

Miami-Dade’s own vaccine supply of 5,000 Moderna doses was originally reserved for firefighters and paramedics of all ages in the county. Under the DeSantis administration’s rules for vaccine distribution, healthcare workers and rescue workers were given priority for vaccines, followed by residents 65 and over.

But Miami-Dade administrators were caught off guard by the relatively low number of firefighters and paramedics interested in being vaccinated.

About 45% of the agency’s employees surveyed said they weren’t interested in being vaccinated early. As of Monday, Miami-Dade had only managed to administer fewer than 400 doses to willing participants in a department with more than 2,000 employees, county Communications Director Rachel Johnson said.

Now Miami-Dade is focusing on how to use the leftover vaccine for people 65 and over.

The county’s housing agency has begun administering doses for homebound residents 65 and over. Of the 413 vaccines administered through Monday, 333 went to firefighters and paramedics and 80 to public-housing residents, Johnson said. After the homebound seniors have gotten their doses, the plan is to offer vaccination appointments to public-housing residents and Miami-Dade employees age 65 and over.

“We should be done by next week,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. “That’s our plan.”

At a Jackson press conference on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the hospital is prepared to roll out vaccination services at sites currently used for COVID-19 testing.

“They’ll have an announcement hopefully very soon about doing some vaccination sites at other testing sites, like Marlins Park,” DeSantis said, with Jackson CEO Carlos Migoya standing steps away. “It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, but we think very soon you’ll see Jackson working with the county and the state and have additional drive-up vaccine sites.”

Broward County this week began taking appointments for three drive-up sites at county parks. The county said 4,000 people received vaccinations at the sites, provided by the state’s local Department of Health office, and more than 26,000 appointments booked. Reservations are made through the website browardcovidvaccine.com.

Last week, Miami-Dade launched a website designed to be the clearing house for vaccination information. So far, the updates have been sparse. On Monday, there was a link to Mount Sinai’s website and its vaccination appointment number for people 75 and older. And there was a preview of the appointment website Jackson plans to launch Tuesday at 11 a.m.

“People are very impatient. They’re very anxious,” Levine Cava said. “Honestly, thank goodness they want the vaccine.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 8:35 PM.