It all started when “some individuals” arrived at a vaccination site in Florida City, about 40 miles south of Miami, and told staff they were health workers, FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde told CNN on Sunday.
Staff asked for proof of their status, but “they could not confirm that they were health workers,” Bahamonde said.
“So the staff, who trusted them and took their word for it instead of sending them away, gave them the vaccine,” Bahamonde said. “Those people then went out and told their friends, ‘Hey, I went in and just said this and got a free vaccine.’ And more and more people came in and then the word came out that people were getting a vaccine that didn’t meet the governor’s criteria. “
Several groups of people told CNN that they had waited more than six hours to get vaccinated, and some of them were turned away.
Siblings Miraj and Saima Haque traveled early Sunday from Boynton Beach, about 150 kilometers north, to receive a vaccine. Their father recently had surgery and is unable to get vaccinated, they said, but Miraj and Saima are continuing to work.
“Even if we try our best to stay at home, it’s still good to protect my dad. A lot of people in my family also have autoimmune diseases, so we’re just doing our best to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” says Saima Haque. told CNN. ‘But it’s really hard because we’re not 65 or teachers or something like that. So we just sat here waiting to see if we could get leftovers. ‘
Miraj Haque said he heard about the site on Twitter. Although they waited about seven hours, neither he nor his sister got a vaccination on Sunday as FEMA representatives told them and others that the leftover vaccine would be sent to the county’s main FEMA-supported location on the Miami-Dade College North campus .
Kanushri Wadhwa, 29, told CNN she has an underlying health condition and could receive a vaccination on Sunday. She said she heard about the site on the news and arrived with her group around 7 in the morning
“We were like, let’s move on,” she said.
This weekend’s accident prompted FEMA to meet with executives and tell them to make sure people qualify.
“If they come into the center and don’t have the validation, we ask them to come back. Go home and receive the validation and come back so we can verify that they are who they say they are,” Bahamonde said.
Another FEMA spokesperson told CNN on Sunday that community vaccination centers are run by states and may be supported by federal government agencies, including FEMA.
The state government also sets vaccination priorities and procedures, and FEMA does not determine who is eligible for a vaccine, the spokesman said.
CNN’s Denise Royal reported from Florida City and Amir Vera and Chuck Johnston reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Gisela Crespo and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.