Governor DeSantis to lower vaccination age to 60 next week

[ad_1]

TALLAHASSEE, Florida. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday that the state will lower the age required to get a COVID-19 vaccine from 65 to 60 next week.

“This will apply to all outposts across the state, to all of the pharmacies, to all of the different drive-thru sites that are being operated,” DeSantis said. “If you are 60 and over, you will be able to register and receive the vaccine.”

The age change takes effect on March 15.

The governor had hinted that this would happen at some point in March and said the age requirement would continue to drop as the number of vaccines and supplies continues to rise, with each five-year age group adding about 2 million people in Florida to those who are eligible. to get a photo.

The change comes as demand from seniors declines and federal immunization sites statewide continue to see a low turnout of eligible people.

“I think now is the right time to do it. We’re starting to see demand soften, ”DeSantis said.

A d

The new federally managed site in Jacksonville and the two satellite sites have had the capacity to immunize more than 15,000 people since they opened on Wednesday – the same day, school staff, firefighters and law enforcement officers. The order aged 50 and over, as well as people deemed “Medically Vulnerable”, were able to start getting vaccinated at federal sites in Florida. But from day one to Sunday, the federal Gateway Mall site and the two satellite sites administered only nearly 6,000 doses, on average less than 1,200 per day of the 3,000 doses per day allotted.

DeSantis also said that the increased supply also makes appointments for a vaccine at grocery stores and drugstores easier to obtain.

“Hopefully by next week we receive another shipment from Johnson & Johnson, and I expect what we just received will be gone, probably within the next few days,” DeSantis said. “It seems to be quite popular.”

A d

With the outline of how the vaccine rollout will unfold in the future, DeSantis has again chosen to break away from the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC recommends that essential frontline workers such as grocery store workers, manufacturing workers, and transit workers be among the first groups to receive the vaccine in phase 1b. In phase 1c, according to the CDC, people aged 65 to 74, as well as other essential workers like those in the restaurant industry and others who interact with large numbers of people, should be vaccinated. in order to limit the spread of the community.

Health officials say people like grocery store workers should be vaccinated because they come into contact with the elderly and other vulnerable people every day.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said the state sees “chaos, confusion, frustration” and “lack of clarity” when rolling out the vaccine.

A d

Fried told a press conference on Monday that deploying the age-based state was not the best way forward.

“When you first lowered it to 70, 75, and up, you catch too many people with not enough vaccines,” Fried said. “I think taking the just age approach is really taking out of the conversation all the people who are on the move and who have to work to make our economy work and our children to go to school and feed you.

Fried has asked DeSantis to expand the paperwork needed when someone tries to prove they are medically vulnerable to get a vaccine.

“People have medical bills, they have other prescription drugs that they should be able to see on a site to show they are medically vulnerable, not to get them to see a doctor they don’t have. maybe not, or to get a form that may cost them extra dollars to get these vaccines, ”Fried said.

[ad_2]

Source link