FL Gov. DeSantis won’t prioritize essential workers for vaccine

The CDC says people over 75 and frontline essential workers should receive the vaccine next

Dec 23, 2020

The governor of Florida hasn’t been adhering to COVID-19 regulations and he isn’t going to start now.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he will prioritize seniors receiving the vaccine over essential workers despite recommendations from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s which says they should be among the first to receive the vaccine, per Business Insider on Wednesday.

First Florida Nursing Home Workers Receive COVID-19 Vaccinations — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“What I would say to the elderly population: It’s going to be reserved for you. Not everyone’s going to be able to do it on day one, it’s going to take some time to be able to make sure everybody has access,” said DeSantis.

The CDC says people over 75 and frontline essential workers should receive the vaccine next.

“The vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is going to be greatest, and that’s in our elderly population,” said DeSantis. Florida has one of the largest populations in the country and a fifth are 65 and over.

“We are not going to put young, healthy workers ahead of our elderly, vulnerable population.”

DeSantis, a Republican, has been creating his own rules since the start of the pandemic. He did not put a mask mandate in place despite the CDC recommendation.

Bipartisan governors nationwide are putting mask orders in place as one of the best tools we have to fight #COVID19. It’s deeply frustrating that @GovRonDeSantis continues to block local actions and make it harder for local leaders to keep our communities safe.#MaskUpMiami 😷 https://t.co/32yI1MA5Eo
— Daniella Levine Cava (@MayorDaniella) November 25, 2020

At a press conference on Tuesday, DeSantis said, “If you’re a 22-year-old worker in food services at a supermarket, you would have preference over a 74-year-old grandmother. I don’t think that’s the direction we want to go.”

He added, “There’s some confusion about who should be kind of in line first — some say some of the younger workers — we want to be clear in Florida: We’ve got to put our parents and grandparents first and that’s what we’re going to be doing. And we’re going to work like hell to be able to get all the vaccine out to elderly who want it.”

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