Florida has banned “vaccination tourism” and doses will only be for locals

After news broke of the number of people who have traveled to the United States for free vaccinations, health officials in Florida, the state that has received the most “vaccination tourism,” announced Thursday that now Florida residents will receive priority doses against the coronavirus.

Florida Chief Surgeon Scott A. Rivkees issued order demanding vaccine suppliers require recipients to prove their residence in the state.

According to data from the Florida Department of Health, out of more than 1.1 million doses of covid-19 vaccines already applied in this southern state, over 39,000 were received by non-residents.

Before the decision announced by Rivkees was known, health officials in Florida counties such as Volusia and Seminole had told media they already had “permission” to require proof of residency from candidates for the election. vaccination.

Until now, they could only be asked to prove by document that they were over 65 years old. This is why some Argentines have traveled to the southern United States to be vaccinated.

One of them was the famous lawyer Ana Rosenfeld who, along with her husband, applied the dose of Moderna. Also the journalist Yanina Latorre He said his 80-year-old mother Dora traveled with her mother, who took her turn and managed to get a dose. But these stories were, for the moment, a thing of the past.

Against this background and after downplaying “vaccination tourism” for weeks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday that, the vaccine should only be used for “permanent or temporary” residents of Florida.

In this way, he included people from other states and countries who have homes and apartments in Florida and spend long periods there, which is a major source of income for the state and tourist cities like Miami.

To prove your residence, individuals will be required to present a driver’s license, valid Florida ID, or utility bill showing an address in Florida.

Another problem the authorities are talking about This is due to the shortage of vaccines. Miami Beach’s Mount Sinai Medical Center announced Thursday that it was canceling all vaccination appointments starting January 23. “due to the lack of certainty in the supply of the vaccine” and before that, Baptist Health, the state’s largest hospital group, did the same.

On the web to get an appointment to go to a vaccination center run by Miami-Dade County, the most populous and hardest hit by covid-19 in Florida, There were no appointments available today for any date.

Today, it is known that the Florida Department of Health will no longer give information on the number of people who received the second dose of the vaccine, only on those vaccinated in total.

The media reported this week that thousands of people have passed the 21-day deadline to receive the second dose needed to ensure the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the ones applied in Florida.

Meanwhile, covid-19 does not give Florida a truce, that this Thursday represented 12,873 new cases and 161 additional deaths, and is the third state with the most infections (over 1.6 million) and the fourth with the most deaths (over 25,000) in the United States.

Source: EFE