Did MDC North move away from DeSantis’ order? Some outside guidelines say they got a shot
The federally supported vaccination site at Miami Dade College North campus appears to have pivoted from state guidelines early Tuesday and begun offering vaccinations to many Floridians 18 and older who did not meet the governor’s eligibility criteria.
Long lines snaked through the campus’ parking lot and stretched down Northwest 27th Avenue, even before the site’s 7 a.m. opening.
The sight is similar to what was seen at a federally supported vaccination site in Florida City Saturday. Staffers went against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order and opened up vaccinations to everyone because the site was seeing low demand. FEMA officials reverted the site back to following state guidelines Sunday.
Tuesday’s vaccination process at MDC North
On Tuesday at MDC North, those waiting in line by foot were brought into the parking lot where FEMA tents were set up, and waited further to register. Appointments are not required at the site and most people were not registered ahead of time.
An employee at the site said the line for people walking to the site was closed off at 8 a.m., an hour after the site opened. And as of 12:45 p.m., the estimated wait time for people in the car line was between five to six hours.
Once inside, those seeking vaccinations were given wristbands: red if they had a doctor’s note or the state’s “at-risk” form affirming underlying health conditions, blue for a Johnson & Johnson vaccine and yellow for Pfizer’s vaccine (Registrants had the option of picking which vaccine they wanted.). Their IDs were scanned and after a quick health screen, they were sent for their shot.
The bulk of the line consisted of people who appeared to be under 65 and did not have an “at-risk” red wristband — people who were trying to get lucky after hearing reports that the site was vaccinating anyone 18 and older with identification.
Several people under 65 who were vaccinated also told Miami Herald news partner CBS4 that they were only asked to show a driver’s license. Also, some people hit social media and WhatsApp with the same claim.
Some site staff were reminding those waiting in line that vaccines were supposed to be for those 65 and older, those with proof of underlying health conditions, healthcare workers with direct patient contact or law enforcement and firefighters 50 and older and pre-k-12th grade teachers and school staff or child-care workers.
At the end of the day, Mike Jachles, public information officer for FEMA, said among the three South Florida federal sites — MDC, Florida City and Sweetwater — 4,996 people were vaccinated Tuesday. At MDC alone, 3,801 shots were given, 3,281 Pfizer and 520 Johnson & Johnson doses. Jachles said at MDC, staff was administering at the rate of 400 vaccines per hour.
On social media, some people had said Miami-Dade police were turning away those who were trying to get in line for vaccinations and said you couldn’t get a shot if you came by foot.
NBC 6’s report shows police telling people that if they came by foot, they couldn’t get the vaccine.
Miami-Dade police told the Miami Herald that pedestrians were turned away from the MDC North site after the vaccination center had run out of doses.
Police also said officers shouldn’t have said vaccines weren’t for pedestrians, which is not a rule at the site. In fact, FEMA officials, who run the site, have said walk-ins are welcome.
Miami-Dade County says it’s working on better crowd control starting Wednesday.
Miami Herald Staff Writers Douglas Hanks, Aaron Leibowitz, Devoun Cetoute and Carli Teproff contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 11:42 AM.
