The controversial “60 Minutes” report to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, R., because of a vaccination scheme called “pay to play”, also toppled the Republican for prioritizing the elderly in the launch of the COVID vaccine in his state.
The CBS News program is facing an intense reaction for deceptively editing an exchange that DeSantis had with “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, about a narrative she released claiming that the Publix supermarket chain was rewarded with rights of vaccine distribution after contributing $ 100,000 to his campaign. However, the report also appeared to condemn his decision to vaccinate the elderly in his state against younger frontline workers.
Alfonsi went even further by casting doubt on DeSantis’ reasoning behind that decision, that the elderly were the most vulnerable to the virus.
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“The Florida rollout started in a very typical way. The first doses were given to healthcare professionals and nursing home residents in early December,” began Alfonsi. “But then, a few weeks later, Governor Ron DeSantis, breaking the CDC guidelines, announced that he would not vaccinate essential teachers and workers next, but rather put the elderly first, making anyone 65 and over eligible. the vaccine, the first in the country to do that. “
“DeSantis said that the elderly are at the greatest risk,” she added, implying that it was an unfounded claim made by the governor, rather than following the science that showed a substantially higher death toll among older Americans.
Recent demographic data from the Centers for Disease Control show that about 80 percent of coronavirus deaths occurred between the ages of 65 and over, and 95 percent of those among those over 50.
The report went on to suggest that DeSantis was to blame for having 4.5 million Florida seniors “competing with each other” for the vaccine and over the state’s Department of Health telephone lines “failing” and websites “breaking”.
Later in the segment, Alfonsi confronted DeSantis at a news conference in March about his claim that Publix paid to get the vaccine first.
“Publix, as you know, donated $ 100,000 to your campaign,” Alfonsi started on the clip. “And then you rewarded them with exclusive vaccination distribution rights in Palm Beach -“
“First of all, what you’re saying is wrong,” interrupted DeSantis.
“How is it not paid to play?” Alfonsi then asked.
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“This is a false narrative,” replied DeSantis. “I met with the county mayor, I met with the administrator, I met with all the people in Palm Beach County and said, ‘Here are some of the options: we can do more drive-thru sites, we can give more to hospitals , we can do Publix. ‘And they said,’ We think it would be the easiest thing for our residents. “
Alfonsi then narrated that Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said that DeSantis “never met her about the Publix deal”.
“The criticism here is that you get paid to play, governor,” Alfonsi told DeSantis.
“And it is wrong, it is wrong,” said the governor. “It’s a false narrative. I just let you down from the narrative. And you don’t care about the facts. Because, obviously, I exposed it to you in a way that is irrefutable.”
DeSantis’ complete answer to Alfonsi’s questions was largely omitted from the on-air report.
Conservative writer AG Hamilton noted that the CBS program “cut several minutes” from the governor’s comments, explaining what led to the deal with Publix.
“First of all, the first pharmacies that had [the vaccine] they were CVS and Walgreens and they had a long-term care mission, so they were going to the long-term care facility. They received the vaccine in mid-December, they started going to long-term care facilities in the third week of December to do LTCs, “DeSantis told Alfonsi.” So that was their mission, it was very important and we trust them. do it. As soon as we entered January, we wanted to expand the distribution points.
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“So, yes, you had the counties, some drive-thru sites, hospitals that were doing a lot, but we wanted to take that to more communities. So we looked for other retail pharmacies: Publix, Walmart, obviously CVS and Walgreens had to end this mission and we said we’ll use it as soon as you’re done with it, ”continued DeSantis.
He went on to say that Publix was “the first to raise his hand” to say that he was ready to distribute the vaccine. It launched the vaccine on an “experimental basis” in three counties, which received “100% positive” feedback from the elderly.
DeSantis later added that while Palm Beach County initially “struggled” with its distribution among the elderly, almost “75 percent” of the elderly had been vaccinated, and the vaccine distribution was “expanding” with CVS and Walgreens after their long-term treatment (LTC Mission).
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“They literally cut him off by explaining the whole process, including who was responsible for LTCs (not Publix), how Publix raised his hand when [CVS/Walgreens] was doing LTCs, how they had a trial run to test it, why it worked and how now CVS / Walgreen are being used now “, Hamilton tweeted.
CBS did not answer Fox News’ question about whether “60 Minutes” was behind the edited exchange.
Publix called the notion that he received special access “absolutely false and offensive.
“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive,” said a spokesman for the state. Publix to Fox News. “We are proud of our pharmacy associates to administer over 1.5 million doses of vaccine to date and to join other retailers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to do our part to help. our communities to emerge from the pandemic. “