Hundreds of people lined up at a Florida recreation center on Monday for a hasty experiment in vaccine distribution: The COVID-19 immunization, recently provided by the Florida State Department of Health, would be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
County officials considered establishing a vaccine marking system, they said, but demand was high and time was short.
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) resisted guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that Florida’s second wave of vaccines would be available to anyone 65 and older, rather than essential frontline workers. He is one of several governors who set their own distribution priorities.
“We have to ride this bike while we’re building it,” said Roger Desjarlais (pictured above), Lee County’s manager, in a press briefing Monday.
“It is a pity that there is really a finite number of vaccines available,” he added later. “And it’s a shame that we didn’t have three weeks to plan this event.”
The county announced Monday’s vaccination site on Sunday, and almost immediately, according to local outlets, people started lining up to wait at night.
Ultimately, 600 people were vaccinated on Monday, more than initial estimates of 300 or 400 vaccines. There are additional sites scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The last man to get an injection on Monday, Larry Ellis, told the local station WINK that his wife did not make the cut. She gave him the last ticket available because “I have more health problems than she does,” he said.
At a press conference on Monday, Desjarlais described an elderly couple who, he said, spent the night camping in garden chairs, wrapped in blankets, waiting for the vaccine.
“Some people are desperate about the whole thing,” he said.