Governor’s order ignored. Some Miami-Dade cities, hospitals offer vaccines to police.
Despite a standing statewide order from the governor restricting law enforcement agencies from receiving the coronavirus vaccine during the first phase of distribution, officers all over Miami-Dade County have been inoculated from the deadly disease.
But the way they’ve gone about finding the ever-elusive dosage needed to fight off the still-evolving virus has been anything but consistent. Some, with underlying conditions, have been vaccinated by doctors. Others have canvassed hospitals before finding an available dose. And some departments — Miami Beach and Coral Gables — say hospitals have called with offers to vaccinate police in spite of the state order.
In the past year, COVID-19 has killed more than 25,000 Floridians and more than 400,000 people in the U.S. In Miami-Dade alone, almost 5,000 people have succumbed to the illness.
Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements said Mt. Sinai Medical Center contacted fire and police the day after Christmas with an offer to vaccinate any of the city’s fire rescue or police officers.
“First responders have been and continue to be severely impacted by the virus,” said Clements. “We come into contact with the community each and every day, often times during critical situations.”
A similar offer was made in Coral Gables.
“Mercy and Kendall Regional had extra doses, so they offered them to first responders. Some of our officers have gotten the first doses,” said Coral Gables Police Spokeswoman Kelly Denham.
In Doral, police Spokesman Rey Valdes said some of the city’s officers were vaccinated at Palmetto General Hospital.
“We were able to do it through a contact,” he said. “The hospital said they were at a significant risk.”
And in Hialeah, Mayor Carlos Hernandez said two weeks ago that Hialeah Hospital had vaccinated 50 sworn officers and that more would follow.
“Thank God,” the mayor said. “We need to protect law enforcement.”
The decision to allow police en masse to receive vaccinations seems to go against an initial executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis, which allows long-term healthcare facility residents and staff, healthcare personnel with direct patient contact and anyone over 65 to receive vaccinations. The order considers fire rescue workers in that category, but not police.
DeSantis ‘not budging’
Frank Rollason, director of emergency management for Miami-Dade County, said he’d heard rumors about police receiving the vaccine and passed that on to the state. He also said he’s been advocating — so far unsuccessfully — to include police in the governor’s first phase of vaccine distribution.
“The governor is not budging, I can tell you that,” said Rollason.
On Jan. 11, Rollason’s office sent a stern warning to municipalities about police receiving the vaccine.
“Law enforcement personnel is not part of this phase, unless they are 65 years of age or older,” wrote Yahiritza Alvarez, a planner with the county’s EOC. “At this time, we do not know when law enforcement personnel will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination.”
A spokeswoman for Mercy Hospital, Karina Castano, said in a statement Tuesday that the hospital provided vaccines to “police and EMS partners who are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.”
That language mirrors DeSantis’ executive order, which gives hospitals discretion to vaccinate people who they deem extremely vulnerable. But officials have generally interpreted that provision to mean people with underlying health conditions, not law enforcement.
Access for those with underlying conditions has been extremely limited. Baptist Health was the lone hospital in South Florida taking appointments for those patients, but canceled all first dose appointments last week due to a lack of supply. Other vaccine sites, like the ones supported by Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade County and the state, are only serving healthcare workers or people 65 and older.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis declined to comment Tuesday on whether it was appropriate for hospitals to give doses to police, saying in a statement that the governor is prioritizing seniors and that people “deemed to be extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 by hospital providers” are among the eligible groups.
Several police departments and their unions have lobbied Tallahassee to allow cops to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Steadman Stahl, president of Miami-Dade’s Police Benevolent Association, said his union’s state president has met repeatedly with the governor.
“The thing we’re finding out is there aren’t enough vaccines to go around and they’re giving them to the most vulnerable first,” said Stahl. “The officers are the first to come into contact with the [sick] people, even beating fire rescue to some calls.”
Sweetwater Police Chief Placido Diaz echoed Stahl’s concerns. He said though some of his 52 sworn officers were able to receive their first dose of the vaccine after the city canvassed hospitals, the virus at times decimated his department, almost disabling entire shifts.
“We’re doing everything we can, but it’s a hurdle,” Diaz said. “We just had another guy come back positive yesterday. This is like Russian Roulette.”
Unhappy police
With such a hodge-podge method of finding vaccines and with the standing order from the governor blocking law enforcement from receiving it, it wasn’t exactly clear how many other municipalities in Miami-Dade were able to get officers vaccinated. And some departments like the county’s two largest, Miami and Miami-Dade police, were telling cops they had to wait — which wasn’t sitting particularly well with some of the troops.
One senior law enforcement officer questioned how the state could possibly not consider police medical personnel, even as they operate vaccination sites and offer first aide like CPR and even tourniquets to injured victims.
“Don’t get me started,” said the officer. “How are police not medical? We’re working the f...ing vaccination sites.”
While it may not be all that surprising that officers are finding available doses of the vaccine during the chaotic rollout, there has been one surprising finding that has stunned some managers: A relatively low percentage of first responders said they would be willing to get the needle in the first phase.
Stahl said only 450 of Miami-Dade’s 3,100 sworn officers surveyed said they would be willing to get vaccinated in the first phase. Clements, the Miami Beach police chief, said a similar percentage had agreed to take the vaccine in his city. The chief said there are a host of reasons officers are hesitant, like young cops who plan on having children in the future and who would rather wait to see how the initial recipients fare.
Denham, in the Gables, said despite the offer from nearby Mercy Hospital, very few of the city’s 190 sworn cops have been vaccinated. And Valdes in Doral said police there, for whatever reason and despite briefly operating a vaccine site, have been hesitant to get the needle.
“I equate that to a lot of uncertainty about the vaccine,” said Stahl. “We’re recommending that people take it. We should be by the end of February or early March when officers should be able to get it.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 2:53 PM.
