[ad_1]
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said the state will not prioritize essential workers during the next round of coronavirus vaccinations.
- Instead, people over 70 will be next to be vaccinated.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed on Sunday that essential workers, such as firefighters and teachers, and people over 75 should be vaccinated afterwards.
- “If you’re a 22-year-old food service worker in a supermarket, you would have preference over a 74-year-old grandmother. I don’t think that’s the direction we want to take,” DeSantis said Tuesday.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday that essential workers will not be a priority in the state’s next round of COVID-19 vaccinations, going against advice from U.S. health officials .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended in a Sunday meeting that essential frontline workers and people over 75 should be the next to get vaccinated.
But DeSantis, a Republican, said at a press conference Tuesday that people over 70 would come first.
“The vaccines will be targeted where the risk is greatest, and that is in our senior population,” DeSantis said. “We are not going to put young, healthy workers ahead of our elderly and vulnerable population.”
This seems to mean that younger people with underlying health conditions are also not being prioritized, according to the Miami Herald.
States can decide who to prioritize for COVID-19 vaccines. Florida has one of the highest average populations of any U.S. state, with one-fifth of those aged 65 or older, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau.
The governor said it would take time to administer the shots, given that Florida has 4.4 million people over 65 and 3.12 million over 75.
“What I would say to the elderly population: this will be reserved for you. Not everyone will be able to do it from day one, it will take time to be able to ensure that everyone has access,” said DeSantis said.
The CDC has classified essential front-line workers as first responders (such as firefighters and police), educational staff, food and agriculture workers, manufacturing workers, correctional officers , U.S. Postal Service personnel, transit workers, and grocery store personnel.
“If you’re a 22-year-old food service worker in a supermarket, you would have preference over a 74-year-old grandmother. I don’t think that’s the direction we want to take,” DeSantis said at the meeting. ‘a press conference. .
Read more: Inside Moderna’s historic coronavirus vaccine program that turned the biotech upstart into a $ 55 billion pharmaceutical industry powerhouse
“There is some confusion about who should be first – some say some of the younger workers – we want to be clear in Florida: we need to put our parents and grandparents first and that’s what. we are going to be And we are going to work like hell to be able to provide all the vaccines to the elderly who want them, ”said DeSantis.
The governor of Florida has ignored parts of the advice from U.S. health officials since the start of the pandemic. DeSantis has not implemented a statewide mask warrant and has banned local authorities from fining Floridians for not wearing face coverings in public.
DeSantis has yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but has announced that it intends to get the vaccine in “a few more months,” West Palm Beach TV reported Monday.
[ad_2]
Source link