The federal COVID-19 vaccination site at the Valencia College West Campus in Orlando appears to have given vaccines to university professors if they showed their faculty ID card, according to a faculty member who received one.
Rick Brunson, journalism instructor at the University of Central Florida, posted a photo Saturday of himself receiving his first Pfizer shot at the site run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying he got it after a colleague told him faculty were being allowed a vaccine that day.
“When I got the text from my colleague, I just assumed that they had waived the K-12 requirement or they had enough vaccines to do more,” Brunson said. “I did not ask anybody at the site about lifting any restrictions. I just showed them my ID.”
Brunson, 60, would not have qualified under current guidelines put in place by Gov. Ron DeSantis and federal directives, which allows vaccines for people over 65, people with certain pre-existing conditions, K-12 school employees, healthcare workers, and law enforcement and firefighters over the age of 50.
“If they are professors and they fall into any of the categories outlined by the governor, then they would be eligible to get the vaccine,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Docleia Gibson said.
On Saturday, the Miami Herald reported that a FEMA site in Florida City was allowing vaccinations for anyone who wanted one, as long as they were over 18, on an ad hoc basis, according to “a Florida official.”
Regarding that site, FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde said the agency is looking into the claims, adding that the site and others should be following state and federal guidelines.
creyes-rios@orlandosentinel.com
