The coronavirus vaccine is so desirable that two women in Florida went to extremes on Wednesday to be vaccinated: they dressed as if they were elderly, health officials said.
According to Raul Pino, director of health, the women, both under 45, wore bonnet, gloves and goggles to disguise themselves as over 65. The age was cut off to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida. department in Orange County. He attributed the deception to increasing interest in the vaccine.
“This is the hottest commodity out there right now, so we have to be very careful,” he said. Pino said at a news conference Thursday.
The geriatric form is the latest example of people trying to cut the line to be vaccinated against the deadly virus. Last month, authorities identified an affluent Canadian couple posing as locals in a remote indigenous community to take doses intended for elders.
Meanwhile, a health department in Indiana issued a warning earlier this month against what they call a “significant lack of morality” after people lied to vaccination workers about their addresses, jobs and ages.
The women’s costumes in Florida may have succeeded before – both indicated on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card that they had received their first doses. Mr. Pino said he did not know how they could have been vaccinated before, but on Wednesday, workers were trapped on the premises at the Orange County Convention Center.
As soon as the on-site staff noticed the discrepancies with their birthdays on their driver’s license, the women, 44 and 34, were referred to delegates, who violated the warning against them, the Orange County sheriff said.
The women did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kent Donahue, a spokesman for the health department, said the safety on the premises had not been increased.
Mr. Pino said there have been “few” cases of people trying to trick health workers into getting vaccinated, including a man with the same name as his older father.
“As we are in this process of trying to move fast, some people may sneak in, so it is probably higher than we suspect,” he said of the number of people who could lie about being vaccinated.
Asked if it was frustrating for him that the two women had skipped the rope, Mr. Pino said it was not up to him to determine who should be next in line, citing the priority scale set by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican.
“Our job as a health department is to vaccinate as many people as possible,” he said.
Mr DeSantis was criticized this week after unveiling a ‘pop-up’ clinic offering vaccines in an affluent, mostly white Manatee County neighborhood.
According to information compiled by The Post, 3.4 million doses were given and more than 2.5 million first doses were administered.
Orange County has vaccinated more than 200,000 people, Mr. Pino said, adding that the province is increasing its ability to keep up with the desire in the community.
“It’s great to see the question,” he said. “There was no shortage of willing arms to be vaccinated … we have people who are declining to grow old to be vaccinated.”