The Florida Covid Vaccination Disappears Impaired Grandparents While the Mechanic Lines Up

The Florida Covid Vaccination Disappears Impaired Grandparents While the Mechanic Lines Up

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“It’s like a ticking time bomb – you’re just waiting,” Walsh told CNN.

Her mother, Marie Schreiner, lives in an assisted living facility in the Tampa area that was recently closed due to a Covid-19 case. Walsh says she has brought hundreds of calls to government agencies for information on how to get the vaccine, but got nowhere.

Like thousands of Floridians desperate for the life-saving shot for themselves or an elderly loved one, she makes her wonder who is in charge and why some of the defenseless are still waiting. According to Johns Hopkins University data, Florida has recorded more than 1.4 million cases of coronavirus and more than 22,000 deaths since the pandemic began. Data from the state show that about 83% of the deaths of people were 65 or older.

The distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine in Florida began smoothly four weeks ago, with health workers at the forefront. A week later, elderly people living in long-term care facilities began receiving the vaccine. It was then that Walsh thought her mother would get one.

As tens of thousands of doses of vaccine flowed into Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order on distribution. Instead of following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to prioritize essential workers and those over 75, he offered the vaccine to all 4.5 million seniors aged 65 and older in the state.

This raised the overwhelming question. Thousands of elderly people across the state waited in queues, some sleeping in their cars or on grass chairs overnight to be vaccinated at vaccination centers. Others mobilized through pinned telephone lines and crashed websites to get appointments. And some would just show up in hopes of being happy and getting a chance. But tens of thousands of others – perhaps less healthy, perhaps with fewer resources – have been left out.

When CNN asked DeSantis what was wrong with the deployment of the vaccine in his condition, he interrupted and said the question was big. After a controversial altercation, during which he told CNN to investigate why the elderly camped overnight, he blamed the local hospitals and health officials.

‘These guys [local hospitals] is much more capable of providing health services than a state government could ever provide, ‘he said.

But Broward County Mayor Steve Geller says it is the state government that is still in power, with a governor giving unrealistic expectations.

While angry at emails and phone calls from voters blaming him for the mess, the vaccines are being sent to the Florida Department of Health in Broward. The department does not report to him, but also to the state and DeSantis.

“It appears that he accidentally gave seniors the inaccurate belief that they could register for the vaccine immediately, and that they could all now receive vaccinations,” Geller said of the governor.

Joyce and Jack Fish would like to be vaccinated so they can visit their new great-grandchild.

Joyce Fish, an 82-year-old child with cancer, is among those who want the vaccine now. She struggles with multiple myeloma. After being vaccinated, she and her husband Jack want to hang out with their new great-grandchild. But they are frustrated by all the hassle and delays.

“As for the vaccine, I do not know where we stand, I really do not know,” Fish told CNN. “I do not know how long it will be. I do not know when it will be, and it’s a little scary. You just want to know that you’ll make an appointment within three weeks.”

Florida’s problems began when the state did not work with individual provinces to reach eligible groups in a uniform manner, says Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease specialist at Florida International University.

“The state has given doses to specific hospitals that have drawn up distribution plans themselves. This has not been an effective or efficient way of doing the distribution,” she said in an email.

She said the state should be involved in it so that the size of the population of targeted and dangerous people in each country will be known, which will facilitate the delivery of vaccines there. DeSantis still says the state needs to be practical.

Elderly people waited in line outside a library in Fort Myers last week, hoping to get one of the 800 doses of coronavirus vaccine available at the site.

It does create opportunities for some seniors.

Joy Dzieginski waited in line outside the Lakes Regional Library in Fort Myers for about 14 hours.

“It’s our only hope to get back to normal, so we’re going for it,” Dzieginski told CNN.

She stays warmly wrapped in a blanket and compares the experience to an all-night trek before Christmas gifts for Black Friday shopping.

But others are in limbo – not sick enough for a competent nursing home, not fit to sit in the queue. And the lack of information on when the vaccine is available carries their patience slim.

Government Ron DeSantis says any problems with the vaccine's deployment are due to failures by local authorities and the huge demand.

Walsh, for example, who is trying to help her 92-year-old mother, said she would have sat in the queue for her, but she thought she and other vulnerable residents of shelters would be a priority for vaccination after medics and nursing home residents .

“If I was told, ‘Why don’t you take your mom out and get her online to get a chance?’ I would have done it,” she told CNN. “But I was under the assumption that these facilities were first.”

Walsh says she is called DeSantis’ office and asks why elderly people like her mother are still waiting, while those with less exposure have been vaccinated. But she says she never got an answer.

CNN tried to ask DeSantis the same question during its latest press conference in Miami. He does not take the question and walks away.

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