Two Very Different Tales At Two Different Federal COVID Vaccine Sites
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The COVID vaccine site at Miami Dade College North Campus was not as busy Sunday as it had been all week.
"It was a lot quicker than I expected. I expected to wait in line for hours," said Larenz Dixon.
Dixon and his mother are both Miami-Dade teachers.
They came as a family to get their COVID vaccine.
"I think it's a great thing that teachers are able to get vaccinated especially like myself," Laurenz Dixon said.
"So we definitely needed to do it. There is a lot of COVID in the schools," said Larcen Turner Dixon.
The line moved smoothly Sunday at the FEMA-funded, state-run vaccination site.
But over at the federal site in Florida City, it was a different story.
The site was overwhelmed with people who thought the site would take all comers.
"If you received a text message that everyone 18 and over will be vaccinated that was not a real text message. That text was not sent out officially," said security at the site.
After police made the announcement, many people left the line. A few, however, stayed.
"We all understand that there doesn't seem to be enough demand from the people who meet the criteria," said Jorge Suarez. "Such that we don't want to find ourselves like yesterday. We're at the end of the day they were like, 'Oh, we still have 300 vaccines to give out… rush to the doors.'"
And, again, just a reminder, those eligible to get vaccinated at those sites are people 65 and older; frontline medical workers, police officers, teachers and firefighters over 50; and younger people with a physician's note saying they would be endangered if they caught the virus.