Disappointing Experience At GMR Lake Sumter College Covid Vaccination Site
 

My wife had an appointment to get her Covid-19 shot at the GMR Lake Sumter College site in Sumterville this morning. She is under 65 years old, has diabetes and is eligible under the recent order signed by Governor DeSantis. Before making the appointment we put her birth date in the online form and answered ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Do you have a chronic health condition that will qualify you for the vaccination’? GMR sent the approval code and we scheduled an appointment.

We showed up on time and brought the State form signed by her doctor approving her for the vaccine based on extreme vulnerability to Covid-19. Her barcode was checked upon entrance and when we got to the front of the line the personnel on site refused to give her the vaccination because she is under 65. I showed them her signed form again and they still refused to vaccinate her.

I then pulled into a parking space so as not to block others from getting their vaccine and tried to call the Health Department. While trying to call, GMR personnel asked us to leave. I moved to a parking spot further away and a GMR employee came up to my car window and threatened to call the police unless I immediately departed the site. We were treated in a rude and insulting manner by GMR personnel and I don’t think this organization is worthy of working in Sumter County.

The Federal site at Valencia College that we drove to yesterday had to have the official form and not the letter from the doctor we had originally picked up to allow our daughter who is under 65 and high risk. (We brought both) It sounds like GMR didn't have a place for parking for people to straighten things out. That does sound really rude.

The Sumter County site was following the rules. The form that the doctor signed can only be used at a doctor's office or at a pharmacy. The county vaccine sites cannot vaccinate people under 65 even if they have the form.

OP, have you contacted someone in authority? That is the only way you will get any satisfaction, posting here won't accomplish anything. I work on the squeaky wheel method of correction. I don't waste time with a local manager, etc., I get ahold of the headquarters and very plainly voice my displeasure and will continue up the management ladder if necessary. Call your state representative and let them know of the problem.

People who qualify medically must get vaccinated by physician, advanced registered nurse or licensed pharmacist.
Know Before You Go

Based upon the previous quote they were right not to give her the vaccine.

They were wrong for being so rude about it.

I'm so sorry that this happened to you and your wife. My husband and I got our first COVID vaccination 3 weeks ago and were told they would call to schedule the 2nd appt. He got a call, I did not. I, like your wife, has diabetes which I added to the form that was required to complete. I am 66 so the age is not a problem. I have called the 'appt numbers' 4 times 48 hrs prior to our 2nd vaccination as advised by the health personnel at the 1st vaccination. I could not get through. I called back 24 hours prior and was asked by recording quite a few questions and then told I would get a call back when the vaccination is AVAILABLE!!! What? Now the vaccinations are no longer available however on the news today, they are going to start vaccinating the school employees! I think the 'system' is handled VERY poorly. I feel they have hired a lot of people, gave them a 30 minute training and set them free. Reminds me of some people I know that have a little knowledge and think they can run the place!

Was that in Lake County? The GMR Moderna 2nd vaccine was automatically scheduled one month from the first one, so there was no need for them to call.

This information should have been made available to the OP prior to them making the trek to the immunization site. Now, what doctor's offices are giving the vaccine? None that I'm aware of and I've been trying for a long time to get an appointment at a pharmacy with no luck so far. The OP's spouse met the requirements for getting the vaccine, had a doctor's approval for getting it so should have been able to get at that site. Pure incompetence on someone's part that this wasn't provided for in the policy.
I'm not familiar with this site, so is this parking area on private or public property? If it is public property or even private property open to the public for parking you can't be charged with trespassing for just parking there unless you are causing a disturbance. This threat was made by a self important wannabe dictator who isn't any more important than an amoeba and didn't like someone questioning their actions.

Lake County is Pfizer. Sumter County is Moderna.
Lake County is extremely organized. Called 352-464-9065 in Feb and got an appointment 2 days later. With Pfizer you only have to wait 3 weeks to get 2nd shot. They gave us a card that said 3/4 but no time. They said they'd call to confirm within 48 hours of our date and they didn't so we went anyway at the same time as our last appointment. We were in and out in 25 mins which included the 15 mins hold.

I guess you "Didn't know before you go (or went)", however there was no excuse for them not explaining it to you (or maybe they did and you wouldn't accept it?).




GOVERNOR EXPANDS VACCINE ELIGIBILITY TO EDUCATORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT 50+ AND MEDICALLY VULNERABLE

• Persons under 65 deemed medically vulnerable* by a physician (form required);
• K-12 school employees 50 years of age and older;
• Sworn law enforcement officers 50 years of age and older; and
• Firefighters 50 years of age and older

Not completely true. According to Orange County, the FEMA site at Valencia College in Orlando will vaccinate her. Too bad we have to drive that far to get it done.

Regardless, GMR shouldn't be making appointments for someone in that category even though I answered their question correctly.

That's good information that's not even listed in The Governators "Know before you go" page and definitely should have been. However GMR isn't a FEMA site and other than allegedly being rude they should have informed you when you pulled in. If they did inform you would you still have argued with them considering they were correct?

Op may have been rude too. Just saying

GMR's website should have rejected the OP's request for vaccination when the DOB was entered. Something went wrong there because the OP stated that GMR generated a code for registration, even with the DOB indication under 65. The DOB should have automatically rejected the request to register. Hope GMR fixes this glitch in their system until they are authorized to vaccinate the under 65 group.

They were correct. Settle down grasshopper.

This is an excellent summary. The state run sites are following the state rules and will not give vaccine to the medically vulnerable under 65 as they don't have a physician, APN, or pharmacist as required. The Valencia College site is run by the Federal gov't not the state of Florida and has its own different rules. GMR does need to fix its website so you cannot get an appointment if you don't qualify.

While it may seem the solution, as the website gave an appointment, would be to go ahead and immunize, if there had been an adverse reaction the personnel at the site would have been in BIG TROUBLE.

BTW, Aarp put out an article on the vaccine. It stated not to panic if you can't get your second dose within the 3- or 4-week time frame. You can wait up to 6 weeks. This gives you more time to schedule your second dose. However, it doesn't fix their disorganization.:ohdear:

The current situation is of course highly stressful. We wait on line to get an appointment. If, you get one it is sort of like winning the lottery.

We are over 70 and have a pre-existing condition. We did not get any priority for a pre-existing condition. We did finally win an appointment and got both shots at Lake Sq mall. Truth it was as well done as can reasonably be expected. For the brief questions we got #14. I will guess as there were a few workers more than our there were 20 stations. I asked. They are doing 8,000 shots a day. That is 400 per station. Imagine being on the other side of that project.

Truth, everyone was nice-far nicer than I would be on their side of this stick em.

The good news. Based on information from financial sources. Right now we have the one from Pfizer and the one from Moderna. Shortly, we will have one from Astrozenica and Johnson and Johnson. By the end of this month March we will be awash in vaccines. Who knows. Shortly it will be like the flu shot. Walk in and we will give you a $10 shopping card.

I would prefer the Janssen (J&J) single dose vaccine. Does anyone know if or when it's available around here (Sumter, Marion or Lake counties)?

I would have invited them to go ahead and call the police. The worst that would have happened is the police would tell you that you had to move (they don't want to be bothered with such 'nuisance' calls) and maybe when the company was exposed for violating the Governor's order they would have backed down. Shouldn't have to go through that, but sometimes you have to hit the bully in the face.

My information comes from having contacted my doctor's office. Translation speaking to a clerk. They hope to have vaccines this month.

From my reading of financial papers to get the Pfizer vaccine they must purchase over 600 shots. I wonder if a doctor, likely a nurse or a nurse practitioner could do that.

We currently have Pfizer, Moderna with Astrozenica and Johnson and Johnson coming.
My reading says by the end of this month we will be awash in vaccines.

From a friend who has been through it. Be sure to request an extra roll of toilet paper when they book you. It will be the only pillow you will have that night.

You are correct!

GOVERNOR EXPANDS VACCINE ELIGIBILITY TO EDUCATORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT 50+ AND MEDICALLY VULNERABLE
Persons under 65 deemed medically vulnerable* by a physician (form required);
K-12 school employees 50 years of age and older;
Sworn law enforcement officers 50 years of age and older; and
Firefighters 50 years of age and older
* Vaccines for this group may only be administered by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or licensed pharmacist.

:clap2::1rotfl: @Daves

We had our shots two weeks ago at the Sumter site and they also gave us each a card to get the 2nd shot one month from getting the first shot...no problems and hardly anyone else there at the college site, maybe 6 other cars.

Blue ash is correct about Big Trouble. If GMR had given vaccine, and OP published, GMR could loose their ability to continue vaccine site. I am glad GMR made the correct decision, think of how many could be canceled if they had to shut down, even temporarily

Two sheriff’s cars are already stationed on site right when you start driving in. Not sure why they are there though. They seemed more intent on talking to each other than us old folks getting our shots.

You're a little behind in the news ... J&J has been available since last Monday. ;) That's the one shotter.

All I can say is thank God for Lake County. Organized, efficient, caring. They deserve some kind of award, and it is all being done through their Health Department, not these subcontractors that Sumter has given all this over too. And don't you wonder what they are being paid to do this, even as poorly as they have done it? Kudos to Marion County too, their Health Department also doing a great job.

I disagree with a 20-year-old school employee getting a CV shot before a plus 65 person, especially one looking for a 2ND SHOT! I will attempt to justify my statement and philosophy. The original CDC guidelines had HOSPITAL and nursing home workers 1st, then 1st responders, and then upper age citizens. The BASIC reason for this was to keep the greatest number of CV patients OUT of the HOSPITALS. That was most important - to keep hospitals functioning well. In parts of Texas and NYC, we could all see on TV how devastating hospital crowding could be to the general functioning of society. It is a matter of life and death!

Getting schools fully operational IS important, but it is NOT life or death. If schools are not operating at 100%, students can continue to learn and many parents can still work from home. A non-functioning school does not devastate society as much as a non-functioning hospital. If someone breaks a leg and no hospital can accept them - they can't say to the EMTs, "take me to a high school, maybe the school nurse can set my leg"!

Those are the reasons that I say to vaccinate older people before young school employees. I realize that there are pressures from teacher's unions to get their members vaccinated. And extreme pressure from parents who can't work from home and WANT free babysitting. And our Federal and State leaders are going to bend to pressure and try or pretend to want to please both voting seniors and parents of school-aged children. The ironic thing is that by waiting only a few more months, the supply of vaccines should be enough to please everyone.

Only school personnel 50 and over were added to the eligibility list in Florida.

COVID-19 Vaccines in Florida | Florida Department of Health COVID-19 Outbreak

64 and diabetic and got the shot at the FEMA site
 

I was told by my doctors staff I had to go to the FEMA site. Made an appointment and got the vaccine at the Valencia college. No Problem had the form and they have the staff to safely administer the vaccine.
Got there at 12:30 appointment at 1:15 and done at 2:30. 844 770-8548
CDRM Health

Shameful!

Vaccine fiasco in Sumter County
 

First of all, it’s a shame that you & your wife had such difficulties at the vaccination site you went to. When Sumter county still wasn’t getting any vaccine back in late January/early Feb and the same provider you are speaking of pulled out without informing folks of their plan, and Sumter county’s computer sign up was a disaster, we decided to sign up in another county, upon the advice of a friend who did the same. We called their # right after 8am & were signed up for our first vaccine 2 days later. Lake County had their routine down very well, very professional & friendly workers and we were in & out in 45 minutes. The county employees called us back 3 days before our 3 week “due date,” and got us scheduled for vaccine 2. Again, very smooth operation, positive experience, time spent was about an hour. My point is that Sumter County hasn’t gotten their vaccination clinic scheduling down very well overall from the sounds of things. Not sure what their problem is, but it needs to be remedied asap. Studying logistics, organization, & educating the public and the workers is common sense, but many people lack it so people end up being upset & dissatisfied with their experience.

It appears that Sumter County is proficient in raising taxes but not so much in providing needed services. Perhaps Sumter County should take a look at Lake County.

OK, thanks. Just substitute 50 for 20 and what I said makes the same sense.

We got our 2nd vaccine today @ 12:30 and it was busy but moved quickly.

I don’t understand why the official letter created on Floridahealth.org is only accepted at pharmacies and Dr. offices. The executive order on March 2, 2021. This is the executive order
http://https://www.flgov.com/2021/03...ate-address-2/

Help! The same thing is happening to me - coming up on my 21 day window for my 2nd shot at the Sears Building in Leesburg and no call regarding what time to be there. I’ll try what you did. Thanks for the tip. I’ll show up 21 days from my first appointment date at the same time as my first appointment was, and hope for the best. My God, getting these vaccinations has been a nightmare. Wish me luck.