Florida will ensure that the elderly will be given priority for the coronavirus vaccine over frontline workers, Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday.
“We want to work to bring this to our elderly population. We think it is very important to reduce mortality by reducing the number of people who need to be hospitalized for COVID-19,” said DeSantis.
After a bitter debate, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that both seniors over 75 and frontline workers – those working in supermarkets, food production, law enforcement or education – receive the injection as part of “phase 1b.”
DeSantis said he would avoid the recommendation for seniors over 65.
“It doesn’t make sense for a 42-year-old to jump ahead of a 70-year-old,” said DeSantis. “I want to make sure that if I have a dose left here in Pensacola for this week, I want it to go to an elderly person [person]. “
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Health care professionals and residents of long-term care facilities received vaccines according to the CDC’s first priority recommendation.
But the debate broke out among members of the CDC’s recommendation panel on who should be the next to receive the limited offer: elderly people, who are at a much greater risk of COVID-19 complications, or frontline workers, who have no the option to distance yourself socially.
“Ethical concerns” were reported among the panel, such as the fact that frontline workers are disproportionately minority and low-income. It is often framed as a debate about the priority of limiting the number of deaths or stopping the spread of the virus.
Before the panel’s decision, CDC director Robert Redfield, who finally decides whether to approve the recommendation, asked members to prioritize the previous one.
So did former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.
“If your goal is to maximize the preservation of human life, then you would target the vaccine for older Americans,” said Gottlieb recently. “If your goal is to reduce the rate of infection, then you would prioritize essential workers. So it depends on the impact you are trying to achieve ”.
Ultimately, the decision rests with the state governors.
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Florida has 4 million people over the age of 65, said DeSantis, and he advised residents to be patient.
“We don’t have enough vaccine to serve everyone 65 and over in Florida right now. We have vaccine doses in the hundreds of thousands,” said DeSantis.
Some 70,000 vaccines have been distributed to health professionals and the elderly in long-term care facilities, according to the governor, but as some county health departments have received small amounts of the vaccine, elderly people who live independently will start being vaccinated on Monday market.
Other states will certainly join Florida to counter the CDC’s recommendations, Texas has already done so. The state announced in its “phase 1b” that those aged 65 and over and those who are considered to be at high risk with certain medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity or cancer.
“This approach ensures that Texans at the greatest risk of COVID-19 can be protected across races and ethnicities and regardless of where they work,” said Imelda Garcia, president of the Texas vaccine allocation panel, according to The Hill.
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In the meantime, Massachusetts is placing prisoners and prison officers in its first round of vaccine containers, along with police and firefighters.