Florida seniors begin swarming coronavirus vaccination sites [View all]

[Zorro]

Source: Tampa Bay Times

Hundreds of seniors formed long lines outside testing sites — camping out overnight with lawn chairs and blankets — to get vaccinated.


Joel and Susan Pittelman, from Naples wait in line to receive COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday at East County Regional Library in Lehigh Acres. [ ANDREW WEST/THE NEWS-PRESS (AP) ]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begged for patience from anxious seniors waiting their turn to get inoculated against COVID-19, as confusion and frustration arose over the availability of the life-saving vaccine among some of the state’s most vulnerable.

At a testing site in southwest Florida, hundreds of seniors formed long lines outside testing sites — camping out overnight with lawn chairs and blankets — to get vaccinated. Before the sun had even risen Wednesday morning, the county’s vaccine supply for the day was already accounted for, prompting officials to turn down anyone else who was arriving.

Seniors in other parts of the state were frustrated by busy phone lines and websites that would no longer issue new vaccination appointments.

DeSantis has prioritized Floridians older than 65 to be next in line for the state’s stock of vaccine, now that most health care workers and other first responders are protected against the virus that has infected more than 1.2 million Floridians and killed more than 21,000.

More than 82 percent of those who have died from the disease have been older than 65, underscoring the urgency in getting older Floridians vaccinated, the governor said Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/12/30/florida-seniors-begin-swarming-coronavirus-vaccination-sites/