In Manatee County, Florida, this week, thousands of people were called to come to the thriving development of Rancho Lakewood and get a coronavirus vaccine. It was a call that many were waiting for.
“We were very lucky, we got the call and went down,” a woman told CBS News’ Jim Axelrod.
It was more than good luck. All those who received the call lived in two specific zip codes. Their doses came through a deal made by the Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and the CEO of the parent company of Lakewood Ranch, owned by major Republican donors.
Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia said at a county meeting that the agreement bypassed the county protocol, allowing a select group of residents to head the vaccine line.
“So, instead of a random pool where everyone gets fair treatment, these two CEPs would get preferential treatment,” she said.
At a meeting in the county, Servia, who is also a Republican, said in the room that the optics are horrible.
Postcodes are two of the richest and most white in the county and are in the bottom half of COVID-19 rates across the county.
“It’s just wrong. I mean, this is the end result,” said Patrick Carnegie, who runs MCR Health, the region’s largest primary care provider, which has been helping with administration Vaccines for covid-19.
“We want to make sure that the process is done fairly and, you know, fairly in all sectors,” he said.
According to the guidance of the state of Florida, residents and employees of long-term care institutions, health professionals in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, including paramedics and EMS, and people aged 65 and over can be vaccinated.
DeSantis said on Wednesday that he was trying to get the vaccine to a high concentration of elderly people. But in a county full of the elderly, he never explained why doses were limited to this group only. He threatened to shoot elsewhere.
“If Manatee County doesn’t like us to do that, then we are totally fine with putting it in the counties that want it. We are totally happy to do that,” said DeSantis.
The governor is also under analysis to select the supermarket chain, Publix, to be the only vaccine distributor in a handful of Florida counties following a $ 100,000 donation the company made for DeSantis’ PAC reelection.
Servia now faces criticism from her own party, saying she should be “embarrassed” for “taking a page out of Biden’s handbook when attacking Florida and … Governor DeSantis”.