Almost all of the elderly residents of a luxury community in the Florida Keys were vaccinated against COVID-19 in mid-January, while the rest of the state was struggling to get vaccines, reports the Miami Herald.
A community bulletin obtained by the Herald showed that most people aged 65 and over who live in the Ocean Reef Club community had received vaccinations at the beginning of the new year.
The exclusive community of Key Largo is home to many political donors, mainly members of the Florida Republican Party, who donated money to the governor. Ron DeSantis
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In the newsletter, the administration of the private community wrote that, in a two-week period, more than 1,200 landowners who qualified under the order of the state were vaccinated.
The newsletter also recognizes the discrepancy between access to the vaccine for residents of the Ocean Reef Club community and that of others aged 65 and over in the state.
“We are fortunate to have received enough vaccines to guarantee both the first and the second vaccinees,” says the newsletter, according to the Herald.
“At the moment, however, the majority of the state has not received an allocation of the first doses of vaccines for this week and beyond, and the timing of any subsequent deliveries remains uncertain.”
DeSantis has been under scrutiny over his vaccine distribution plan for the past few months. He was accused of giving certain communities better access to the vaccine, allowing them to go through community organizations, including the Medical Center at Ocean Reef, rather than through state or local registration systems, according to the Herald.
The Sunshine State Governor previously denied giving special treatment to certain communities.
“There are some people who are more upset with me for vaccinating the elderly than with other governors whose policies killed the elderly, and this is a joke,” said DeSantis, according to the Herald.
He also defended the lack of a clear vaccine distribution plan in his state.
“If you notice, many of those [states] adopted plans, and so they already had to change plans, “said DeSantis last week.” We didn’t do that. “
DeSantis’ office and the Ocean Reef Club did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.