Governor DeSantis will reduce the vaccination age to 60 next week

TALLAHASSEE, FLa. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that the state will reduce the age for people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine from 65 to 60 next week.

“This will generally apply to all state bridges, all pharmacies, all drive-thru sites that are operated,” DeSantis said. “If you’re over 60, you’ll be able to sign up and get the vaccine.”

The change of age will take effect on March 15.

The governor suggested that this would come at some point in March and said the age requirement would continue to fall as the number of vaccinations and supplies continued to rise, with each five-year-old age group adding about 2 million people to the country. Florida to those eligible. to get a shot.

The change comes as the demand for seniors is declining, and federal immunization sites across the state continue to see a low presence of eligible people.

“I think this is the right time to do it. We are beginning to see that demand is softening, “said DeSantis.

The new federal-run site in Jacksonville and the two satellite sites have had the capacity to vaccinate more than 15,000 people since opening Wednesday – the same day school staff, firefighters and law enforcement officers over the age of 50 years, as well as people considered “Medically Vulnerable” managed to start taking pictures on federal websites in Florida. But from the first day until Sunday, the federal site at Gateway Mall and the two satellite sites administered only nearly 6,000 doses, averaging less than 1,200 per day out of the 3,000 doses per day allocated.

DeSantis also said the increased supply also makes appointments to get a vaccine at grocery stores and pharmacies easier to obtain.

“We hope to get another Johnson & Johnson delivery by next week, and I anticipate that what we just received will probably disappear in the next few days,” DeSantis said. “It seems to be quite popular.”

With a rough outline of how the vaccine will be launched in the future, DeSantis has again chosen to break the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC recommends that key frontline workers, such as grocery store workers, manufacturing workers, and public transportation workers, be among the first groups to receive the phase 1b vaccine. In Phase 1c, the CDC says, people between the ages of 65 and 74, as well as other key workers, such as those in the food service industry and others who interact with large numbers of people, should be vaccinated to limit the spread. community.

Health officials say people like grocery store workers should be vaccinated because they come in contact with the elderly and other vulnerable people every day.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said the state sees “chaos, confusion, frustration” and “lack of clarity” during the vaccine launch.

Fried told a news conference on Monday that launching the state on the basis of age is not the best way forward.

“When you first lowered it to 70, it was 75 and over, you catch too many people without enough vaccines,” Fried said. “I think that adopting the age approach is really taking out of the conversation all the different people who are out and about who need to work to get our economy up and running and bring our children to school and feed us. ”

Fried demanded that DeSantis extend the necessary documents when someone tries to prove that he is medically vulnerable to receive a vaccine.

“People have medical bills, they have other prescription drugs that they should be able to come to a site, showing that they are medically vulnerable, it doesn’t force them to go to a doctor that they potentially don’t have. or receive a form that can cost them extra dollars to get these vaccines, ”Fried said.

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