We all know someone, or possibly were that someone who obtained a fake ID in high school or college so they could get into bars before the legal age of 21.
While it’s most certainly against the law, hence the legal drinking age, it’s a bit harmless in most circumstances. They, or we, drank a little too much, had a bit too much fun, and paid for it the next morning with a raging hangover.
However, after your 21st birthday, there’s really no need for such shenanigans, right? I mean, you’re now legally allowed to smoke, drink, buy lottery tickets, and get into R-rated movies.
Enter COVID-19 and its subsequent vaccine. It has apparently caused several people to fake their age and identity to access the much-anticipated injections.
And no, I’m not kidding.
Take a particular case in Florida, for example.
Here the vaccine is not available to anyone who is not over 65, a healthcare worker, in a care home or determined to be particularly “at risk,” according to AARP.
However, that didn’t stop two women, age 34 and 44, from trying to get the vaccine recently.
According to CNN, the two women were physically removed by the Orange County Sheriff’s department from a vaccination site after authorities realized they weren’t who they said they were.
Orange County health officer Dr. Raul Pino said that “they came with the gloves, the glasses, the whole thing, and they are probably in their 20s.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Gloves and glasses?
Yes. And that’s not all. Per WFLA-TV, the two were in costume, “complete with bonnets and gloves.”
I want you to think for a minute. Do you know anyone over age 65 who wears “bonnets and gloves?” I know I don’t. Well, at least not unless they are German Baptist, Mennonite, or Amish, and it’s relatively cold out.
I mean, this is the 21st century. Not even my great, great grandmother wore such attire.
And yet these women seemed to think it is typical for American seniors? No wonder they got caught.
But that’s not even the weirdest part.
The thing is, this wasn’t their first attempt. In fact, they were both trying to get their second COVID vaccine shot, which means they had done this once before to get their first dose.
Dr. Pino remarked, “I don’t know how they escaped (detection) for the first time,” but they did come with valid vaccine cards and all.
And they just might have made it through a second time had someone not looked so good at their ID cards.
According to multiple sources, it was noted that when their IDs were given, the names matched, but obviously, the pictures and ages didn’t. And so the police were called, and the women were forced to leave the property, with both of them receiving trespassing charges.
Since then, security at this particular site and many others has increased dramatically.
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino told us they've increased security at the @OCCC vaccination site over this and others who've tried different approaches to get the shot. He says the two girls had valid cards from their first shots, but got held up over their IDs. @WFTV
— Lauren Seabrook (@LSeabrookWFTV) February 18, 2021
And Pino says this is not the first of these instances, although certainly the most unusual. Instead of dressing in costume, most just try to get in with a fake ID. And he says that the number of those trying, as well as succeeding, is likely quite a bit “higher than we expect.”
Pino said, “This is the hottest commodity that is out there right now. We have to be very careful with the funds and the resources that we are provided.”
And he’s definitely not wrong.
Currently, there is a minimal number of vaccines available due to the novelty of both the disease and its supposed cure. And, in states like Florida, this is particularly of concern, which has the second-oldest population age in the nation.
Naturally, this means it must be prioritized, with those who need it the most being able to get it first.
These two women clearly didn’t fall into that category, and so they decided to fake their ID, taking one shot and almost two from someone who could have really needed it. Does anyone else think a bit more than a trespassing charge should have been filed?
