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Vanessa Baugh admitted Thursday that she “wanted to make sure certain people were on the list” for the vaccination after emails revealed she had ordered county officials to create a list for her and others skip the line. Responding to criticism that county officials only allowed residents of the county’s two richest zip codes to be vaccinated at the event, Baugh further admitted that she picked the zip codes she chose. -even.
At a county commissioner’s public meeting on Thursday, Baugh apologized for criticism of the “pop-up” vaccination site, but said if the opportunity presented itself again, “I will do exactly what I did this time.” Baugh further explained that she “did exactly what (DeSantis) wanted” by arranging the vaccine drive.
At another county commissioner’s public meeting on Tuesday, Baugh said the vaccination campaign was initiated by DeSantis, a Republican, and implicated in real estate developer Rex Jensen. A press release on the Manatee County website said it aimed to vaccinate 3,000 people in three days.
“Commissioner Baugh has requested that we draw a list of those in the vaccine waiting pool who indicated 34202 and 34211 as their residence,” Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob wrote on February 12. Know.
Manatee County commissioners voted on Jan.6 to create a system that would distribute vaccines through a system that a Manatee County government source said was designed to be more equitable. Instead of people scrambling to sign up for the first appointments for available vaccines when they have been made available, appointments for vaccines are distributed by Manatee County via a raffle to eligible people. who have registered to participate in the lottery.
Although Baugh ordered county employees to deviate from the protocol, she and the rest of the commissioners unanimously voted in favor of it on Jan.6.
At a county commissioner’s public meeting on Tuesday, county administrator Cheri Coryea confirmed that in planning the governor’s pop-up command, she told Baugh that they should use the random pool and not choose people by postal code. One of the emails CNN obtained via a public folder request states that the county continues to use the random pool.
A separate email, also obtained by CNN via a public records request, shows that Baugh did not stop there. It shows that on February 15, she also ordered that she, Jensen and three others be allowed to cut the line.
A source who was made aware of how the planning process was conducted called it a “VIP list”. Also, two of the people on that VIP list lived outside of the two zip codes prescribed by Baugh. The five people on the list were qualified to receive the vaccine, but by adding them to the VIP list, Baugh ensured they would skip the line by scheduling them on dates.
Census records show that these two postal codes in Manatee County have the highest median household income and are predominantly white. Florida Department of Health records show these two zip codes also have some of the lowest Covid-19 infection rates in the county.
Although DeSantis said the choice of zip codes “was a choice about where a high concentration of seniors is,” Baugh made it clear that she was behind the decision.
“It was my idea,” Baugh said at Wednesday’s meeting, but did not provide an explanation for his rationale.
“I think instead of everyone seeming to have a problem, we have to realize that it’s 3,000 people who are now going to be removed from our registry, which will hopefully open up this list to everyone sooner. those who remain, ”she said.
Although Baugh used county staff and resources for the campaign, fellow county commissioners said at Tuesday’s public meeting that they had not been consulted or made aware of the pop-up. They only learned about it from the local newspaper.
CNN has contacted Baugh for comment but has not received a response.
Lisa Barnott, spokesperson for Jensen and Lakewood Ranch, told CNN in a statement that their involvement in the clinic was only “to help identify a site that can accommodate 1,000 people per day.”
“(Baugh) coordinated the use of the site, as well as the use of the Manatee County registry of people who had signed up for vaccinations,” Barnott continued in the statement.
Barnott did not respond to inquiries regarding Jensen’s inclusion on the so-called VIP list.
Manatee County had previously been praised by DeSantis for its effectiveness in vaccinating people and running one of the first drive-thru vaccination programs in the United States. Now the governor has threatened to withhold further doses from the county after the person he had largely been charged with running it – Baugh – was criticized. DeSantis has not criticized Baugh or his methodology in organizing his vaccine collection.
“If Manatee County doesn’t like us doing this, then we’re very much in favor of putting this in counties that want it,” DeSantis said.
CNN has contacted the DeSantis press office for comment and has received no response.
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