Federal Sites To Vaccinate Teachers 50 And Up, Law Enforcement

TAMPA, FL — Teachers age 50 and up will be able to be vaccinated at the new federally operated vaccination site in Hillsborough County, which opens Wednesday, March 3.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the four federal sites in Florida will be open to teachers who are at least 50 years old and law enforcement officers including firefighters and police officers.

“Our goal is to be able to get that (vaccines for teachers and law enforcement) as more vaccine becomes available, and I think we’re going to have the ability to do that between these federally supported sites,” DeSantis said. "As long as it works out to where the doses will be allowed for this, we want that to be open not just to seniors but to sworn law enforcement and classroom teachers."

Currently, under DeSantis's vaccination rollout plan, vaccinations are only available to front-line health care workers, fire rescue paramedics, nursing home staff and residents and seniors age 65 and up.

DeSantis added, however, that seniors age 65 and over will still be the priority.

“We still have seniors to do that’s still the priority, but we can really knock out a lot of these folks potentially pretty quickly (with the addition of federally supported sites)," he said.

As the federal Food and Drug Administration prepares to approve a coronavirus vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson, DeSantis is hoping to get additional supplies of vaccines in Florida.

"As new vaccines come online, then we’ll see what happens,” said DeSantis.

The Florida teacher's union has been lobbying for vaccinations for all teachers, saying that teachers fear contracting the coronavirus at schools where students don't always wear masks properly and classes can't provide 6 feet of social distancing.

However, DeSantis has held the line on vaccinating only teachers who age 65 and up, the age group deemed the most vulnerable to complications from the coronavirus.

While offering vaccines to teachers age 50 and up at the federal site is a step in the right direction, Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said many of the state's 200,000 public school teachers are under 50 years old but have health conditions that put them at risk.

“The good news is that the governor is finally starting to listen to what the medical and scientific community is saying — educators should be a priority,” Spar said. "But we have plenty of teachers under 50 who are high risk. They are literally sacrificing their health every day they go into the schools.”

See related story: 'I'm Terrified,' Says Tampa Bay Teacher As Coronavirus Rates Rise

The federal site will be located at the closed Tampa Greyhound Race Track at 755 E. Waters Ave. in Sulphur Springs. It will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., administering 2,000 vaccines a day.

Additionally, the federal government plans to open two smaller mobile satellite sites in the county to provide 500 vaccinations a day in underserved areas.

Other federal sites are in Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami.

The federal sites are opening through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, the Florida Department of Health, Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida National Guard.

The federal sites will use the same preregistration system the state-run sites use: myvaccine.fl.gov or 866-200-3896.

See related stories:

• Hillsborough Begins Effort To Vaccinate Home-Bound Residents
• State-Run Vaccination Site Opens At University Square Mall
• Hillsborough County To Take Coronavirus Vaccines To Those In Need