‘It’s a zoo.’ Large crowds trying to get the COVID vaccine jam traffic around Tropical Park
The Florida Highway Patrol and Miami-Dade Police are both urging drivers to avoid a portion of Bird Road because large crowds hoping to get the COVID-19 vaccine at Tropical Park is leading to traffic jams.
The area near the park between Southwest 82nd Avenue and State Road 826 was seeing tie-ups Saturday morning, according to FHP.
The FHP suggested Southwest Eighth Street or Southwest 88th Street (Kendall Drive) as alternate routes.
Miami-Dade booked 1,900 reservation slots for the new vaccination site at Tropical Park in West Miami-Dade on Thursday, and, like all such appointment offers, these were filled 15 minutes after the registration site went online.
Also, as is the case with all novel coronavirus vaccination sites in Miami-Dade and Broward, you must have an appointment to get a dose and you cannot just show up without one. Do so and you will be turned away, leading to more traffic and hassle.
But Lynn Lubell said that even though her mother, Millie Radlauer, had an appointment scheduled for 11 a.m., she was turned away after she arrived by car with Lubell’s husband 90-minutes early. The pair, along with another group of friends who had appointments booked, had driven from Boca Raton.
“They had to circle around Bird and got to about 12 cars in front of the park, still an hour before their appointment, and a police officer told them to come back, the computers were down, and there was no direction as to whether to come back later today or tomorrow,” Lubell said.
“It’s crazy. So disorganized,” Lubell said. “It’s a zoo. Unreliable.”
Saturday afternoon, after the Herald reached out to Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava’s office, Lubell was assured her mom could get the vaccine Saturday. Lubell said she was driving back to the park.
“Everybody that was in line today or had an appointment and that is in line will be able to get a vaccine,” said Rachel Johnson, communications director for the Office of the Miami-Dade Mayor.
A few hours later, Lubell called the Herald back with some good news to share.
“We’re all set,” Lubell said. “The people down here were absolutely wonderful. Extraordinary.”
Johnson said the county is looking into why there was an apparent miscommunication at the front end Saturday morning and will be reevaluating after the site closes later Saturday. “We will be making some changes to help handle the flow,” she said, acknowledging that there have been buildups in traffic.
“We are getting hundreds of people through, and obviously they want the vaccine, and we want to make sure the operation runs as smoothly as we can and will be working on it. The message we are pushing out on social media is if you have an appointment it doesn’t matter where you are in line, you will get through to have the vaccine.”
Tropical Park, which has been used as a testing site, is the county’s first vaccination site. Local hospitals such as Jackson, Mount Sinai and Baptist also began scheduling seniors for the inoculations.
The vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna, requires two doses and these vaccination places in South Florida, too, require an appointment. They won’t serve walk-ups or vaccinate family members or any one else you bring with you unless they, too, have made an appointment.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is assisting with the vaccine distribution for hundreds of seniors 65 and older at Tropical Park Saturday. In a post on Twitter, fire rescue urged patience for those who have an appointment and are in a line. “You will receive your vaccine today.”
Miami-Dade police are assisting with the resulting traffic.
And some people who were able to get a vaccine for themselves, or a family member, took to social media to say that, too.
“Both my grandparents were able to get the vaccine this morning at the Tropical Park location. It was very efficient! So happy and relieved,” read a tweet from @stefanyn24. “Also, shoutout to all the amazing people working at the site! They’re doing an amazing job and I’m very grateful for them!”
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 11:23 AM with the headline "‘It’s a zoo.’ Large crowds trying to get the COVID vaccine jam traffic around Tropical Park."
