Vaccinations Expanded To 50 Or Older Teachers, Law Enforcement & Firefighters
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The COVID vaccine is finally on the fast track in South Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he is opening up the new FEMA site at Miami-Dade College North Campus to teachers, sworn law enforcement, and firefighters 50 and older.
"We are trying to get the vaccine to the people it will make the most impact for," he says.
Beginning next week, the FEMA site at Miami-Dade College will be giving 2,000 shots a day, courtesy of the federal government.
It's one of four FEMA-run vaccination sites.
In Florida aimed at helping Underserved communities where inoculation levels are low.
The governor's announcement is a huge relief for teachers like Marie Ressler.
She is 54 years old and an elementary school teacher in Fort Lauderdale. She's been working in the classroom since last October.
"I've been worried about catching COVID. I don't go out but we can't control What our students do with their families," she says.
In both Broward and Miami-Dade, school administrators and the teachers union see it as a path forward to some normalcy.
Many students continue to work from home online and hundreds of teachers have not felt comfortable returning to the classroom for health reasons.
Between the two counties, about 14,000 teachers will be eligible for the vaccinations.
"We hope everyone 50 and older will get vaccinated and we will continue to work at getting all teachers vaccinated," said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats.
