Florida Covid-19 First-Time Vaccination Plan for Seniors Leads to Confusion

Florida Covid-19 First-Time Vaccination Plan for Seniors Leads to Confusion

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The order-of-arrival plan led to huge lines forming overnight on Tuesday, while people camped in lawn chairs and waited for hours.

Bruce Scott told CNN he arrived at an Ft. Myers’ vaccination site was 1:30 am and waited in line for about 8 or 9 hours to be vaccinated.

“Although I am grateful to receive the vaccine, I feel that there must be a better way to distribute it,” he said later. “For people who really need it, elderly people who may be disabled in some way, they can’t stand this process, so there must be a better way to deal with it.”

Seniors and first responders wait in line to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at the Lakes Regional Library on December 30, 2020 in Fort Myers, Florida.

The long wait is a preview of what appears to be a tumultuous launch of vaccines and reflects the public’s pent-up demand for vaccines, as well as the logistical difficulty in administering them in an orderly manner.

The problem is partly a consequence of the lack of consistent federal guidance on vaccine administration, as President Donald Trump postponed this decision making to the states. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in turn, broke with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations to focus first on vaccinating the elderly rather than essential workers, and encouraged each county health department to take its own. decisions about vaccine administration.

Florida is one of the few states that has started vaccinating people beyond the first wave of health professionals and long-term care facilities. The state has administered more than 150,000 vaccines so far, more than all but Texas, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Municipalities see high demand for vaccines

Other counties in Florida have attempted to schedule vaccination appointments for those who apply online or through a hotline.

In Orange County, the health department set up an online portal to book vaccination appointments, and 30,000 appointments have been scheduled in the past 24 hours. The county then said it had reached its maximum capacity and closed its online portal on Wednesday.

Fran Lundell, 70, and her husband, Andy, 73, were among those who successfully registered and were vaccinated after waiting in their cars at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on Tuesday.

When can YOU get the vaccine? It depends on your health, occupation and where you live

They said they went to the county’s website to schedule an appointment as soon as it was announced. Fran got an appointment quickly, but Andy took four or five attempts to get a spot.

“We think we’re lucky,” said Fran Lundell. “We thought that maybe in March or April we could do it, but it is fantastic to do it, for sure.”

Jim Seltzer, who was also vaccinated on Wednesday, praised the county’s work.

“I thought it was very well organized. I thought they did an excellent job,” he said. “I mean, it was a long wait, but you know, I was hoping for that.”

In Palm Beach County, the health department instructed people 65 and older to call a hotline to get the vaccine. But the hotline can only answer 150 calls at a time and was overloaded, the county said.

“We are working on expanding our infrastructure to meet the high demand we are experiencing,” said the website.

And in South Florida, Broward Health said all of its appointments are scheduled until February.

Focus on the elderly at the expense of essential workers

Florida is also one of the few states that contradicted the CDC’s recommendations on who should get the vaccine first, prioritizing the elderly over essential workers.

A CDC advisory committee recommended that states first vaccinate frontline health workers and people in long-term care facilities, and Florida followed suit.

The CDC committee then recommended that states vaccinate people over 75 and “essential frontline workers” as the first respondents in a “Phase 1b”. Subsequently, in a “Phase 1c”, states should vaccinate adults aged 65-75, people aged 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions and “other essential workers,” the committee recommended.

With the end of the year approaching, the launch of the vaccine remains woefully delayed

However, DeSantis said the state is prioritizing everyone over 65, with young essential workers later.

“Our vaccines will be targeted at our elderly population,” he said at a news conference last week at UF Health in The Villages, Florida’s central community for people over 55. “As we enter the wider community, vaccines will be targeted where the risk is greatest, and that is for our elderly population. We are not going to put healthy young workers ahead of our vulnerable elderly population.”
The recommendations of the CDC committee represented a middle ground between two lines of thought: preventing the spread of Covid-19 and preventing the deaths of Covid-19. People aged 18 to 64 represent 75% of all coronavirus infections, while people over 65 account for 81% of all coronavirus deaths, according to CDC data.
DeSantis, who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of Covid-19 for young people, said he did not agree with the CDC’s recommendations for vaccinating essential workers.

“If you are a 22-year-old who works in food services, say in a supermarket, you would have a preference over a 74-year-old grandmother,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the direction we want to go.”

CNN’s Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt and Denise Royal contributed to this report.

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