In Manatee County, Florida, this week thousands of people were called to the affluent Lakewood Ranch development and a coronavirus vaccine. It was a call many had been waiting for.
“We were very lucky, we got the call, we came right down,” one woman told CBS News’ Jim Axelrod.
It was more than luck. Those who received the call all lived in two specific zip codes. Their doses came about through a deal struck by the Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and the CEO of Lakewood Ranch’s parent company, owned by major Republican donors.
Misty Servia, Manatee County commissioner, said in a district meeting that the deal bypassed district protocol, allowing a select group of residents to be at the forefront of the vaccination line.
So instead of this random pool where everyone gets a fair shake, these two zip codes would get preferential treatment, she said.
At a district meeting, Servia, who is also a Republican, told the chamber that the optics are awful.
The zip codes are two of the richest and whitest in the province, and they’re in the bottom half of COVID-19 rates across the country.
“It’s just wrong. I mean, that’s the point,” said Patrick Carnegie, who heads MCR Health, the largest primary care provider in the region, who has helped manage Covid-19 Vaccines
“We want to make sure that the process is fair, and that it is fair across the board,” he said.
Under Florida State guidelines, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, health professionals who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients, including paramedics and emergency personnel, and people 65 and older are eligible for vaccination.
DeSantis said on Wednesday that he was trying to get the vaccine at a high concentration of seniors. But in a province full of seniors, he never explained why doses were limited to just this group. He threatened to make the recordings elsewhere.
“If Manatee County doesn’t like us doing this, then we’re fine with putting this in counties that want it. We’re totally happy with it,” DeSantis said.
The governor is also being investigated for selecting the supermarket chain, Publix, to be the sole distributor of vaccines in a handful of Florida counties following a $ 100,000 donation the company made to DeSantis’ re-election PAC.
Servia is now facing criticism from her own party, which says she “should be ashamed” that she “pulled a page out of the Biden playbook to attack Florida and … Governor DeSantis.”