Florida’s First Income Plan – First Vaccination Covid-19 Elderly Vaccination Plan Leads to Scramble

Florida’s First Income Plan – First Vaccination Covid-19 Elderly Vaccination Plan Leads to Scramble

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The first-come-first-served plan led to giant lines forming overnight as people camped on grass chairs and waited for hours.

Bruce Scott told CNN he met at a Ft. Myers’ vaccination site at 1:30 a.m. and waits about 8 or 9 hours in line to be vaccinated.

“Although I am grateful to receive the vaccine, I feel there should be a better way to distribute it,” he said afterwards. “For people who really need it, elderly people who are disabled in some way, they can not endure this process, so there must be a better way to manage it.”

Elderly and first responders are waiting in line on December 30, 2020 in Fort Myers, Florida to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

The long wait is a preview of what a turbulent effect of vaccines looks like and reflects the public’s pent-up demand for vaccines, as well as the logistical problems of administering them in an orderly fashion.

The issue is partly due to the lack of consistent federal guidance in the administration of vaccines, such as President Donald Trump postponed that decision-making to the states. In turn, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begins with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to focus first on vaccinating the elderly rather than essential workers, and he urged each department of health in the province to make its own decisions. to take on the administration of the vaccines.

Florida is one of the few states that started vaccinating people outside of the first wave of health care workers and long-term care facilities. According to Johns Hopkins University data, the state has so far administered more than 150,000 vaccines to more than everyone except Texas.

Countries see high demand for vaccine

Other counties in Florida have tried to appoint vaccines for those who enroll online or through a hotline.

In Orange County, the Department of Health has set up an online portal to make vaccinations, and 30,000 appointments have been scheduled in the past 24 hours. The province then said it had reached capacity and closed its online portal on Wednesday.

Fran Lundell, 70, and her husband, Andy, 73, were among those who successfully signed up, and they were vaccinated after waiting in their cars at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on Tuesday.

When can YOU get the vaccine? It depends on your health, occupation and where you live

They said they went to the province’s website to schedule an appointment as soon as it was announced. Fran quickly gets an appointment, but it takes Andy four or five attempts to get a lock.

“We think we are happy,” said Fran Lundell. “We thought we might get it in March or April, but it’s definitely fantastic to get it.”

Jim Seltzer, who was also vaccinated on Wednesday, praised the work the country has done.

“I thought it was very well organized. I thought they did an excellent job,” he said. “I mean, it was a long wait, but you know, I was expecting it.”

In Palm Beach County, the Department of Health has instructed people age 65 and older to call an appointment hotline to get their vaccine. However, the hotline can only handle 150 calls at a time and is overwhelmed, the country said.

“We are working to expand our infrastructure to meet the high demand we are experiencing,” the website said.

And in South Florida, Broward Health said all of its appointments will be booked until February.

Focus on the elderly above essential workers

Florida is also one of the few states that prioritizes the CDC’s recommendations on the order in which to get the vaccine, and prioritizes seniors over essential workers.

A CDC advisory committee recommended that states vaccinate frontline health workers and people in long-term care facilities first, and Florida followed suit.

The CDC committee then recommended that countries vaccinate people over 75 and “essential frontline workers” as first responders in a ‘Phase 1b’. Thereafter, in a “Phase 1c”, states should vaccinate adults between 65-75 years, people aged 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions and “other essential workers”, the committee recommended.

As the end of the year approaches, the deployment of vaccines remains badly behind schedule

However, DeSantis said the state prioritizes everyone over 65, with young essential workers later.

“Our vaccines are going to target our elderly population,” he told a news conference at UF Health in The Villages, the central Florida community for people over 55, last week. ‘As we get into the general community, the vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is greatest, and that is in our elderly population. We are not going to put young healthy workers above our vulnerable population. ‘
The recommendations of the CDC committee were a compromise between two schools of thought: the spread of Covid-19 and the death of Covid-19. People aged 18-64 make up 75% of all coronavirus infections, while people over 65 make up 81% of all coronavirus deaths, according to CDC data.
DeSantis, who has repeatedly underestimated the seriousness of Covid-19 for young people, said he did not agree with the CDC recommendations to vaccinate essential workers.

“If you had a 22-year-old job in food services, let’s say in a supermarket, you would have preferred a 74-year-old grandmother,” he said. “I do not think that is the direction we want to go.”

CNN’s Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt and Denise Royal contributed to this report.

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