In 2020, an elected official doing the sane and decent thing (or what would have been deemed as such by everybody a year ago) is a newsworthy event.
The experts decided that “essential workers” should be vaccinated first because of racial equity and social justice. Also union membership has its privileges.
Governor DeSantis told them to go to hell.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced another 300,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Florida on Tuesday. He also expects more of Pfizer’s vaccine to arrive.
Who will get the next round? People age 70 and up.
Florida has a large older population and we know they’re more vulnerable to the virus, but DeSantis’ decision goes against the recommendation made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory panel.
Next on the priority list, according to CDC recommendations, should be people 75 and older, as well as frontline essential workers like police officers, firefighters, teachers and grocery store employees. DeSantis said Florida isn’t going to do that.
“The problem with that is, the way I see it, is a 22-year-old food service worker would get a vaccine over a 74-year-old grandmother,” the governor said.
So he plans to priority people aged 70 and up who aren’t in long-term care facilities. He promised to provide details during a news conference Tuesday.
“If you took a 25-year-old sheriff’s deputy somewhere in Florida and said I have one vaccine, you want it or should I get it to your parents or grandparents who may be over 70, I think 99% of them would say oh no, give it to the grandparents, give it to the parents,” DeSantis said.
Of course the teachers’ unions who don’t want to teach also want to cut in line.
Teachers and other front-line public school employees should be on Florida’s list of “priority groups” who will get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as more widespread distribution begins, Orange County’s superintendent said in a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis released Friday.
The Florida Education Association, the statewide union that represents about 15,000 teachers, sent a similar letter to DeSantis on Wednesday. The union also asked that school employees — from pre-K teachers to university professors — be prioritized in Florida’s upcoming vaccination efforts.
“With students expected to return to in-person instruction in ever-increasing numbers at the start of the second semester, it is paramount the state stay ahead of any potential increase of COVID-19 in our schools and on our college and university campuses,” wrote Andrew Spar, the union president.
What’s the mortality rate on campuses again as opposed to those over the age of 70? The level of chutzpah here is out of this world.
Basic decency. This is what it looks like.
At the end of a news conference Monday, a reporter asked Gov. DeSantis when he plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m not stepping in line with anybody,” DeSantis responded. “I’m less than 45, I imagine it’ll take me a couple more months. I will do it, but I’m not going to step in front.”
Leave a Reply