NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE – The line was long in Northwest Miami-Dade Thursday morning for a pop-up site that had 400 Johnson and Johnson one-dose COVID-19 vaccines to distribute.
Carolyn Lawson arrived at 4:15 a.m. and was second in line for the shot at the Global Church site, which was expected to begin its vaccinations at 8 a.m., but didn’t get started until 9:30 a.m.
Lawson said she had gone to several different sites to get the shot in previous days, but wasn’t successful.
“I tried before and I got there at like 5:30, 6 o’clock in the morning and was like a three-mile line already.” Lawson said it was important to her to get the vaccine because she works at a funeral home and is exposed to people with COVID-19.
Marcel Sanchez, executive pastor at Global Church, said that the reason they offered the one-dose shot instead of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccination was because many people might now have access to return for a second dose because of transportation or mobility issues.
“There are elderly people, for an example, we’ve gotten several phone calls during the week. They’re not going to make the drive to the stadium, wait in line for two hours, so here, at least the more we have the vaccine available, they can just walk, their children can bring them, and it’s a little more accessible.”
It’s one of five FEMA-funded pop-up sites offering the single-dose vaccine for one day only.
Four other sites received 400 doses on Thursday.
- First Brazilian Church at 1103 NE 33rd Street in Pompano Beach from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Mision Peniel at 208 Boston Avenue in Immokalee from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Bridge to Hope at 17700 SW 280th St in Homestead from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Feeding South Florida at 650 NW 5th Avenue in Florida City
We asked a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management where pop-up sites would be located in upcoming days.
He said even he doesn’t know because the situation is “fluid and sites are being scheduled at a higher level.”