PENSACOLA, Florida – In a matter of days, Florida residents age 65 and older can receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola on Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis said he is signing an executive order that will allow people aged 65 and over to be vaccinated as a “first priority” as healthcare professionals, residents and Long-term care facility staff members receive the vaccine.
“The state of Florida is prioritizing our COVID-19 vaccine for our seniors,” said DeSantis. “They will have priority over ordinary workers under 65.”
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Floridians 65 and older can get the COVID-19 vaccine then, Governor Ron DeSantis says
In announcing this executive order, DeSantis is breaking the recommendations of an advisory committee of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which recently said essential workers and people 75 and older should receive the vaccine next.
DeSantis argued that vaccinating the most vulnerable population aged 65 and over will reduce hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.
“It doesn’t make sense for a 42-year-old to jump ahead of a 70-year-old,” said DeSantis. “The problem is that 73-74-year-olds would be behind the line for a 21-year-old young worker who considers the quote essential. That, I think, makes no sense.”
DeSantis said that, according to his executive order, once a hospital finishes vaccinating all doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals, they can start administering the COVID-19 vaccine to people in the general public aged 65 and over.
In addition, the governor said county health departments are receiving shipments of the vaccine and will begin administering it to people 65 and older as early as Monday.
“We want to work to bring this to our elderly population,” said DeSantis. “We think this is very, very important to reduce mortality by reducing the number of people who need to be hospitalized.”
Hundreds of thousands of doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Florida since last week, and DeSantis said he expects hundreds of thousands more doses to continue arriving each week in the “foreseeable future”.
“There are a lot of good things going on. A lot of hope, a lot of optimism,” said DeSantis. “We are going where the risk is greatest and where we think the impact will have the greatest consequences.”
After the population aged 65 and over, DeSantis said that the next phase of Florida’s COVID-19 vaccination could include police, firefighters, teachers and utility workers.
“So I think you have an opportunity for the general public to be able to do that,” said DeSantis.