“The state does not dictate hospitals,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told CNN’s Rosa Flores on Monday. “These guys are far more skilled at providing healthcare than any state government could ever be.”
While Florida has a structure for deciding which priority groups to vaccinate, it is up to healthcare facilities to ensure that vaccines are sent to patients. Some hospitals have dropped a registration system and instead have a first-come, first-served strategy to administer vaccines that are distributed by the state, DeSantis said. Demand is high among seniors, who are among those most at risk for serious illness from Covid-19.
And seniors make up a significant portion of the state’s population: According to the 2010 U.S. Census, more than 3.2 million of Florida’s 18.8 million residents are over the age of 65.
Florida Emergency Management Department Director Jared Moskowitz said in a question-and-answer session on Wednesday that the state is working to deal with the varying appointment system in the different counties, especially when planning to serve seniors who are not in long lines. can wait, according to WFTV affiliated with CNN.
According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 19 million doses had been distributed nationally and 4.8 million administered as of Tuesday. Florida is one of 12 states to have administered less than a quarter of their vaccines. According to the state, more than 329,000 people had been vaccinated in the state as of Tuesday.
Dramatic scenes
The haphazard rollout has resulted in dramatic scenes across the state. On Monday evening, Daytona Beach officials announced that the first 1,000 people queuing for vaccinations would be allowed to park on Tuesday and wait at Daytona Stadium overnight to ease traffic and roadblocks.
The announcement came after the queue started to form 12 hours before the first shot was to be given on Tuesday, according to WFTV. Monday morning, all 1,000 people assigned to receive the vaccine for the day were at the site at 6:30 a.m., half an hour before the site was scheduled to open, the point of sale reported.
“Oh, I want that vaccine more than anything,” Deborah Boyd, a resident of Daytona Beach Shores, told WFTV. ‘To be honest, I would have come in by helicopter, parachuted to get this vaccine, and I’m willing to wait as long as it takes. I can’t live like this anymore. ‘
The capacity reached capacity more than two hours before it opened for vaccinations, the city announced on Facebook.
In South Florida, Broward Health said last week that all of its appointments are booked through February.
While recognizing the vaccine rollout was not perfect, DeSantis said Florida is the “better approach.”
Most states only vaccinate health professionals and long-term care patients at first, but Florida has expanded the range of its doses.
“If you have a 73-year-old parent, a 73-year-old grandparent, in the vast majority of states in this country, they don’t qualify for vaccination. We don’t believe that’s right. We think seniors should be. are put first, ”he said.
DeSantis warned hospitals to increase their administration, adding that some facilities are doing better than others.
“We want you to use the vaccine. If you’re not using it, we’re going to make sure that the extra allocations are reduced and then expanded in places where they’re making good use of it,” DeSantis said.
To help meet the demand for seniors to be vaccinated, Florida announced the opening of new Covid-19 vaccination sites. The Hardrock Stadium in Miami Gardens will serve 1,000 people a day, and Publix Supermarkets will use 15,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine starting Friday to launch a trial vaccination program in 22 stores, DeSantis announced.
CNN’s Denise Royal and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.
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