Memorial Health staff carefully unpacked the boxes and slowly placed the vaccines inside several specialized freezers. Dr. Paula Eckardt, a specialist in infectious diseases at Memorial Health, took off her white coat. The inoculations at the new Memorial Health vaccination center began after a 2 p.m. news conference. Memorial Health is one of five systems that will continue to receive supplies of the vaccine in Florida. Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami-Dade County will receive the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s first dose on Tuesday.

MIRAMAR, Fla. A food distribution has been going on for months at Miramar Regional Park during the pandemic, but Thursdays priority was healthcare workers. The gates opened at 7 a.m. Julie Hall, a cardiac sonographer for Memorial Health, was first in line. The drive-thru accessibility of the Miramar food distribution made her feel comfortable and safe because all she had to do was pop the trunk of her car and didnt have to get out, she said. Its impacting our healthcare workers just as much as it is our community, Angela Lucas-Mumford, assistant to the city manager for Miramar, said. After the healthcare workers made their way through the line, it did open up to the public.