A health official in Orlando says two women lied about their ages and dressed up costumes in an attempt to get a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
WESH-TV and WFTV-TV in Orlando report that the incident occurred Wednesday at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, which is being used as a mass vaccination site.
Currently, the convention center is only accepting people aged 65 and older for vaccine appointments.
According to Dr. Raul Pino, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, the women arrived at the convention center and lied about their ages.
Not only were the women dressed in costume, but they also came with CDC-issued cards noting that they had already received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Officials only caught on to the scheme when they realized that the dates of birth they provided did not match what was recorded in the registry. The names they provided matched names already in the registry.
“We realized a couple of young ladies came dressed up as grannies to get vaccinated for the second time. I don’t know how they escaped for the first time, but they came vaccinated. The bonnets, the gloves, the glasses, and they were probably in their 20s,” Pino said.
Pino said the health department denied the women a second dose of vaccine and turned the case over to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO).
According to ABC News and WESH, the two women were actually aged 44 and 34 years old. The women were not arrested but were issued trespassing warnings.
WESH reports that Wednesday’s incident wasn’t the first time that health officials in Orlando have caught someone lying about their age in an attempt to get vaccinated. Pino said earlier this year, officials caught a man attempting to use his elderly father’s ID in an attempt to get a dose.
