At Monday’s town council meeting Vice Mayor Rexann Hosafros voiced her frustration with state of Florida’s vaccine program. She said tempers are rising and she was publicly venting in hopes word will get back to the state that the process they have in place to distribute the vaccine isn’t working.
The Vice Mayor said, “We were told vaccines would be available at a particular location, then at Publix, then there was a state signup system.”
Hosafros said she signed up for the vaccine because she’s eligible. But despite the fact she’s signed up, the state continues to send vaccines to places like Publix and other locations without contacting the people that signed up to receive the vaccine.
She said the situation is inequitable and it’s getting dangerous. “We have people of great age and handicap traveling hours and hours to try to get a vaccine.” Hosafras said a neighbor in her 70’s took her mother, who’s in her 90’s, to Broward County to get the vaccine. “It’s just insane.”
What wasn’t mentioned during the Vice Mayor’s complaint was that the vaccine is in short supply everywhere. It’s not as if there are warehouses full of the vaccine in Tallahassee waiting for a UPS driver to show up. Lee County ranks 8th in the state for the number of people vaccinated.
Governor DeSantis said on Monday that over 2 million people 65 and over have been vaccinated in Florida. The state has vaccinated a total of 3 million people. Desantis also said he expects the state of Florida to receive 175,000 doses of the new Johnson and Johnson vaccine this week.
On Monday, Florida’s Department of Health reported 1,700 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the fewest reported since October 5th when 1,415 cases were reported. Lee Health Systems is down to 76 patients with COVID in its hospitals after reporting 79 on Friday and 80 on Thursday of last week.
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