Some counties move to limit vaccines to residents only
To crack down on so-called “vaccine tourism,” Seminole, Brevard and Volusia county officials on Wednesday warned that vaccinations for COVID-19 are for Florida residents only and said anyone showing up to receive a dose must bring proof of residency. But the move, reportedly at the urging of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has not yet been embraced by all Central Florida counties, adding to general confusion over vaccine availability in the state.
“The message has been very, very clear from the state: Vaccines are for Florida residents only,” said Alan Harris, Seminole’s emergency management director, at a news conference called to announce the change. “They need to show anything that demonstrates that they have or own or rent property here in the state of Florida. Even down to if an individual has a theme park pass that says Florida resident — that would be good enough for us.”
Residents also can provide a driver’s license, passport, utility bill, mail, or rent payment receipt, Harris said. Without such proof, people will be turned away, even if they have an appointment.
Following reports, particularly in South Florida, that large numbers of out-of-state visitors were flocking to county vaccination sites, Harris said Seminole received
“authorization” from state officials to limit vaccinations to residents. Volusia County spokeswoman Kate Sark said the move followed “guidance” from DeSantis and would apply to all state-run vaccination sites.
“Effective today, Jan. 20, COVID-19 vaccine sites hosted by the County of Volusia and Florida Department of Health in Volusia County will require proof of Florida state residency, such as a state of Florida driver’s license or a utility bill with the same name as the registrant,” a county news release said. “During the registration process, individuals must self-certify that they are both 65 years of age or older and a resident of the state. Upon
check-in at an event, individuals must be able to provide a state-issued driver’s license or identification card or a utility bill for a Florida property that matches the name on their ID.”
And Brevard County health officials sent out a notice late Wednesday saying DeSantis had “announced” that all COVID-19 vaccines in the state go to Florida residents — although vaccine announcements directly from the governor’s office made no mention of the requirement.
In Orange County, health department director Dr. Raul Pino said there had been no official order on the subject.
“We have not received specific guidance from the state ... besides the public comments by our governor,” Pino said in an email.
The governor’s office has not yet responded to a request for clarification. Authorities in Lake and Osceola counties also did not respond. Their vaccination information online made no mention of a residency mandate. But at a news conference Tuesday, DeSantis said, “We’re only doing Florida — Florida residents. You’ve got to live here, you know, either full-time or at least part-time.”
That followed instructions just days earlier that anyone, regardless of residency, could get the vaccine in Florida. And the governor’s official order on vaccinations — limiting them to anyone 65 and older, health-care workers with direct patient contact, residents and staff of long-term care facilities and “persons deemed to be extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19 by hospital providers — remained unchanged on Wednesday.
Harris said he learned of the new policy during a statewide conference call for county officials on Tuesday. He added, however, that only about 100 of Seminole County’s 16,500 COVID vaccinations so far have been for people from other states. Miami and other areas of South Florida have reportedly seen thousands of out-of-state visitors show up at vaccine sites.
“There’s a lot of costs that goes into [distributing vaccines],” Harris said. “So, it makes sense that people that are paying property taxes benefit from that.”
So-called “snowbirds,” or people from northern states that spend the winter months in Florida, can be considered state residents, county officials said.
Meanwhile, health officials in both Seminole and Orange counties said there have been no reported cases of a new and highly contagious strain of the COVID virus within their borders. Federal health officials reported this week that Florida has 46 of the 122 diagnosed U.S. cases of a mutated strain of the virus that has become dominant in the United Kingdom.
“None that has been reported to us,” Harris said. “Any variant to the virus is certainly concerning to us… And certainly we don’t want this to get into the community.”