Miami mayor demands vaccine for 'residents only' and asks city to stop tourists and snowbirds from flocking to Florida for COVID shots - despite it not being against federal or state rules
- Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says he wants to limit vaccine doses to people living within city limits
- Suarez asked the city manager and attorney 'take all legal steps necessary' to prevent nonresidents from getting vaccines before the elderly and high-risk
- Local leaders say they cannot turn anyone away because of residency because there is no statewide residency requirement
- Gov Ron DeDantis (R) discouraged people from flying down to Florida but said reports of tourists and day-trippers getting shots were exaggerated
- It comes as real estate moguls Bill and David Mack reportedly helped get their friends jabs at a retirement home chaired by David
- New York couple Phil and Roberta Rice, both in their early 70s, flew to their summer home in Florida earlier this month for four days to receive the vaccine
The mayor of Miami wants to reserve all coronavirus vaccine doses for residents who live inside city limits.
It comes as reports have surfaced that many snowbirds and rich people from places such as New York City have been flying down to Florida to receive the jab.
Federal regulations and guidance from emergency managers state that there cannot be residency requirements for vaccines.
But Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who pitched the idea during a city commission meeting on Thursday, says he wants to implement a 'Miami First' policy, reported the Miami Herald.
Suarez requested that the city manager and attorney 'take all legal steps necessary' to give vaccines to elderly and vulnerable populations first and prevent non-residents from receiving the shots.
'We're seeing a lot of high profile people who are in effect saying that they got priority over our residents,' Suarez said.
'Obviously whatever we do has to pass legal muster.'
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says he wants to limit vaccine doses to people living within city limits. Pictured: Suarez during a press conference, March 2020
Suarez asked the the city manager and attorney 'take all legal steps necessary' to prevent nonresidents from getting vaccines before the elderly and high-risk
Gov Ron DeDantis (R) discouraged people from flying down to Florida but said reports of tourists and day-trippers getting shots were exaggerated. Pictured: DeSantis speaks during a press conference about the opening of a COVID-19 vaccination site at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, January 6
Meanwhile, Florida's Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz stated during a meeting of the House Pandemic and Public Emergencies Committee in Tallahassee on Thursday that he is against any residency requirements.
'You can't do that,' Moskowitz said.
'We got a dozen-plus fiscally constrained counties. People are going to have to cross county lines. We have transient populations here in the state. We can't do that sort of stuff. It will have major implications down the road.'
Some local officials are for the plan and others are against it.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, said it is a bad idea to allow cities to reserve vaccine doses for their residents, according to The Herald.
'We shouldn't allow municipal borders to limit a person's access to life-saving vaccines based on which side of the street they live on,' she said.
Meanwhile, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told NBC 6 in a statement that she would likely to prioritize residents as well.
'My priority is our local residents, and we are working to make sure we get shots into the arms of people who live in Miami-Dade as fast as possible,' the statement read.
However, her office admitted that the county 'can't turn anyone away based on residence' because of state policy.
Florida was one of the first states, under orders from Gov Ron DeDantis (R) to open vaccines to members of the general public.
Currently, anyone over the age of 65 can get a shot in addition to healthcare workers, first responders and people with pre-existing conditions.
This has led to rumors that tourists, foreigner and residents of other states are arriving with the sole purpose of being immunized.
DeSantis has discouraged people from flying to Florida to get vaccinated, but says reports of such cases are overblown.
At a news conference earlier this week, DeSantis said most non-residents getting shots are snowbirds who live in the state several months out of the year.
'I think it's totally fine if they wanted to' be vaccinated, he told reporters.
'It's not like they're just vacationing for two weeks...They have relationships with doctors. They get medical care in Florida...So that's a little bit different than somebody that's just doing tourism.'
However, several news outlets, including Page Six have reported that wealthy people, such as real estate moguls Bill and David Mack, arranged for their rich friends to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Among them include members of the Palm Beach Country Club, which costs $100,000 to join, and people who were flown down on private jets.
The vaccinations reportedly took place at Joseph L. Morse Health Center in Palm Beach, a Florida retirement home chaired by David Mack.
'David and Bill Mack arranged for their friends from the Palm Beach Country Club to be vaccinated for COVID-19,' a source told Page Six.
'They apparently made a list of people who could get the vaccine, who one can only assume are their wealthy friends and clients.
'Supposedly, some people flew down in private jets from New York just for the vaccine, if they were lucky enough to be on the list the brothers made.'
It comes as real estate moguls Bill and David Mack reportedly helped get their friends jabs at a retirement home chaired by David. Pictured (left to right): David Mack, William Mack, Phyllis Mack, George Fellows and Diane Fellows attend The 19th Annual Food Allergy Ball, Benefiting Food Allergy Research & Education at Waldorf Astoria in New York City, December 2016
Among the Macks' friends were members of the Palm Beach Country Club (above), which costs $100,000 to join, and people who were flown down on private jets.
New York couple Phil and Roberta Rice, both in their early 70s, flew to their summer home in Florida earlier this month for four days to receive the vaccine
But the Macks are not the only ones jumping the line.
Phillip and Roberta Rice, a retired New York couple in their early 70s, flew to their winter home in Naples, Florida, to get the jab .
They shared a photo on Facebook of themselves at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers with a caption that read: 'Vaccinated.'
Four days later, they flew to their home in Delmar, New York.
The Rices say their appointments occurred on January 7, before New York changed its eligibility from people aged 75 and older to those 65 and older.
'We were up in the air. So when we saw that it looked more likely that we'd be able to get it in Florida much sooner, maybe even months sooner, decided to go for it,' Phillip Rice told the Times Union.
Meanwhile, elderly people in the state have been forced to camp out in cards overnight for their chance to get the jab.
The issue was also raised by Broward County Sen Lauren Book (D) during a meeting of the Florida Senate Select Committee on Pandemic Preparedness and Response on Thursday, according to The Herald.
Currently, anyone over the age of 65 can get a shot in Florida in addition to healthcare workers, first responders and people with pre-existing conditions. Pictured: Narbara Johnson smiles while receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through COVID-19 vaccination site at Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds in Plant City, Florida, January 13
Florida officials say plans for a statewide appointment system for COVID-19 vaccinations should be ready within weeks to prevent long lines. Pictured: Cape Coral residents wait in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on December 30
When she asked Surgeon General Scott Rivkees why there are no residency requirements for seniors. he said it is because the vaccines were purchased by the federal government and asked to be distributed without restrictions.
Rivekees did say, according to The Herald, that vaccine tourism 'is something abhorrent and absolutely should not happen.
'If we are made aware of situations where things are happening, this is something that will be looked into.'
In addition to setting up a mass vaccination site at Marlins Park - home of the Miami Marlins - the state is also administering the vaccine at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami-Dade County.
News outlets reported that county officials have been told the two stadium sites will receive 7,000 doses each of the vaccine next week.
Also on Thursday, Moskowitz announced plans for a statewide appointment system for COVID-19 vaccinations should be ready within weeks.
'We're working on a registration system that we plan to launch in the coming weeks to help integrate site registration and fix some of the problems that we've all read about,' he said.
The design of a statewide online portal is still under discussion and will be made available to counties - who are not required to use the system - to help them coordinate vaccinations.
As of Wednesday, about 774,000 Floridians had at least one shot of two vaccines approved by the federal government.
More than 1.5 million people have tested positive for the virus in the state since the pandemic began and nearly 24,000 have died.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5kYWlseW1haWwuY28udWsvbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlLTkxNTE3OTMvTWlhbWktbWF5b3ItZGVtYW5kcy1yZXNpZGVudHMtdmFjY2luZS1ydWxlcy1hc2tzLWNpdHktc3RvcC10b3VyaXN0cy1nZXR0aW5nLXNob3RzLmh0bWzSAYsBaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltYWlsLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZS05MTUxNzkzL2FtcC9NaWFtaS1tYXlvci1kZW1hbmRzLXJlc2lkZW50cy12YWNjaW5lLXJ1bGVzLWFza3MtY2l0eS1zdG9wLXRvdXJpc3RzLWdldHRpbmctc2hvdHMuaHRtbA?oc=5
2021-01-15 16:43:00Z
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