Local News

Hard Rock Stadium To Transition To COVID-19 Vaccination Site

January 6, 2021 / 11:15 PM EST / CBS Miami

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to announce that Hard Rock Stadium would begin offering vaccinations to seniors who are at least 65 years old or older, as well as frontline health care workers.

"We announced on Monday that we would be converting test sites to vaccination sites," said DeSantis.

DeSantis said they have already started a soft opening to make sure that things are working well.

"They will start with two lanes and will look to expand," DeSantis said.

Hard Rock Stadium is the first state-run testing site to be converted into a vaccine site.

The site will launch and open fully on Friday, January 8, officials announced.

Gov. DeSantis told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "We are going to do a minimum of 1,000 shots a day at this one site. You get a shot and you have to be observed for 15 minutes. People come in and fill out a form and they don't have to leave their cars. If they want to do Marlins Stadium with the health department we will help them with that. We are going to come to the point where we may need to ask for more vaccines on a daily basis because people want it. We believe putting seniors first is the important thing to do to help with the public health."

"We ask seniors to be patient. We are going to work diligently to provide you with the opportunity to get vaccinated," said Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez.

Additionally, the site will continue to provide COVID-19 testing while offering COVID-19 vaccinations.

Officials said details on how to make an appointment would be announced ahead of Friday's opening.

DeSantis said, "We don't want to sign people up and not be able to deliver the vaccine."

The Moderna vaccine inoculations will be free of charge.

What To Expect?

Officials said once arriving at the site, individuals will be directed to a separate lane to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Once an individual is in the appropriate lane, they will provide contact information so the state can work with them on arranging a time to receive their second dose.

All individuals will be asked to make an appointment and are encouraged to bring a government-issued form of identification and health insurance information to the site.

The government-issued ID does not need to be a Florida Driver's License, officials said.

Officials said more sites will be announced as the state receives additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The governor was joined by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

"As of today, over 32,000 vaccines have been given in Miami-Dade County," said Cava.

Cava announced that the county's Office of Emergency Management had been activated to centralize vaccination efforts.

"As County Mayor, my top priority is to bring all agencies working on this distribution to be together at one table," she said. "It is truly all hands on deck to get shots in the arms as fast as possible. Until we tame this pandemic we can not move forward fully with our economy."

On Tuesday, Cava held a virtual press conference, along with local leaders, to provide an update on COVID-19 vaccination plans in Miami-Dade County.

The mayor talked about shared efforts to distribute vaccines across the community for healthcare workers and seniors age 65 and older.

"We are truly in an emergency situation. We are all hands on deck to distribute these vaccines as quickly as possible to those who need it most," said Cava.

"Our goal is to distribute thousands of vaccines every week," she added. "We ask for your patience while we work to vaccinate the elderly in our community as soon as possible."

Coronavirus