Other local residents learned about the confusion taking place at the Florida City site on social media, and rushed to the venue endeavoring to receive vaccines themselves. According to the, hundreds of shots were ultimately administered Saturday to people who did not meet state criteria deeming them qualified for COVID-19 immunizations at this point in the rollout.
Vaccination guidelines recently updated by the Florida Department of Health stipulate that long-term care facility residents and staff, individuals older than 65, individuals younger than 65 with underlying medical conditions that place them at a higher risk of serious COVID-19 infection, high-risk health care workers, and K-12 education workers, firefighters and law enforcement officers older than 50, are all eligible to receive shots at immunization sites across the state.
A federal COVID-19 vaccination site in Florida City, Florida, reportedly administered shots to hundreds of recipients who were not technically eligible under the state's current guidelines. In the photograph above, a health care worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-thru site in Miami on February 22.reached out to FEMA for additional information and comment regarding the disorder that took place at Florida City's federal vaccination site over the weekend.
"Community vaccination centers are led by states and may be supported by federal government entities including FEMA. Since vaccination sites are led by the state, calling any vaccination center a 'FEMA site' is inaccurate," the spokesperson said in a statement sent toon Monday."State government also determines vaccination priorities and procedures. At no point has FEMA ever been able to determine who is eligible for a vaccine.