Coronavirus

PortMiami may not have cruising, but it now has Pfizer and J&J vaccines to offer

A new COVID-19 vaccination site opened Monday at PortMiami as part of Miami-Dade County’s efforts to lower barriers for a shot, particularly for those who work in the tourism industry.

Vaccines will be available at Terminal J, which usually caters to small ships and luxury cruises. The county had previously hosted a pop-up at PortMiami in April to make it easier for port employees with different schedules to get a shot.

Anyone who lives or works in Florida can get the one shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, depending on supply availability. J&J is for people 18 and older. Pfizer is for those 16 and older.

There is no security checkpoint to get to the terminal where the vaccine pop-up is, a PortMiami spokesman said. Passenger cruises have been halted during the pandemic, although cargo operations are running at the port.

The site will be open Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The site doesn’t take appointments so you can just show up and walk into the terminal to get your shot. Proof of age will be required to comply with the FDA’s emergency-use authorization.

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine sites also opened Monday at Miami International Airport as part of the county’s plan to make vaccinations easier in the tourism industry and have pop-ups in places where lots of people gather. A vaccine pop-up event was held at Gramps in Wynwood on Mother’s Day weekend.

This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 12:11 PM.

Follow More of Our Reporting on Coronavirus & Vaccines: What You Need To Know

Michelle Marchante
Miami Herald
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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