MIAMI (WSVN) - Vaccines are beginning to be administered at Jackson Memorial Hospital, and two local celebrities were some of the first to receive the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine.
Singer-songwriter Emilio Estefan and Miami Dolphins Senior Vice President Nat Moore received the first dose of the vaccine on Wednesday, as the health system begins to inoculate the elderly.
“Doing this is definitely going to be a chance to be able to save a lot of lives,” Estefan said. “It’s an important day to send a message. I think it’s a lot of misinformation. People need to know that we want to take a chance. It’s the end of the year, and we want to bring hope to people. We love the United States. We want to get people back to work and bring hope to a lot of people to be able to find a normal life.”
Patients who are 65 years old and older and other high-risk patients already being treated will be allowed to receive the vaccine. Starting in the first week of January, the hospital system will begin to take requests for online appointments for Miami-Dade County residents over the age of 65.
“We’re going to do this in two steps, and we’re going to reach out to as many people as we can in a very expeditious manner,” said a Jackson Health System spokesperson.
Estefan and Moore both meet federal and state criteria to receive the vaccine.
“We all dream of getting back to some type of normalcy, getting back to the way things were,” Moore said. “The only way that happens is that we all roll up our sleeve, we all get engaged, we all get involved and do the right thing.”
The two celebrities hope them receiving the vaccine will convince others to sign up, including those in the Black and Hispanic communities.
“So many times in the African American community, we feel like we get left out,” Moore said. “This is a chance for the African American community, minorities in general, to have the chance to get vaccinated and, believe it or not, give yourself a chance to survive this bad pandemic.”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava explained why Wednesday’s vaccinations are important in the fight against the virus.
“This is a critical step in ensuring the safety of our employees and also the public,” she said. “In addition to our celebrity shots today, we have the new arrival of 15,000 Pfizer vaccines that will be available to our seniors age 65 and older, to our community and appointments will be available through Jackson North, South and Main.”
Jackson Health System is among the latest of healthcare systems in South Florida to begin offering a COVID-19 vaccine to people.
A full list of healthcare systems offering COVID-19 vaccines to those in the right age group can be found by clicking here.
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