Nearly every elderly resident of an upscale Florida Keys community was vaccinated against COVID-19 in mid-January, while the rest of the state struggled to get vaccines, the Miami Herald reports.
A community newsletter obtained by the Herald showed that the majority of people 65 and older living in the Ocean Reef Club community had received vaccinations at the beginning of the new year.
Key Largo’s exclusive community is home to many political donors, most notably members of the Florida Republican Party who have donated money to Gov. Ron DeSantis
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In the newsletter, private community management wrote that in the space of two weeks, more than 1,200 homeowners who were eligible under the command of the state had been vaccinated.
The newsletter also acknowledges the disconnect between the Ocean Reef Club community’s access to vaccines and that of other people 65 and older in the state.
“We are fortunate to have received enough vaccines to guarantee both the first and the second for those who have been vaccinated,” the newsletter said.
“At this time, however, the majority of the state has not received any allocation of first doses of vaccines for this week and beyond, and the timing of any subsequent deliveries remains unclear.”
DeSantis has been scrutinizing its vaccine distribution plan in recent months. He is accused of granting certain communities better access to the vaccine by letting them go through community organizations, including the Medical Center at Ocean Reef, rather than through local or national registration systems, the Herald said.
The Sunshine State governor has previously reportedly refused to grant special treatment to certain communities.
“Some people are more angry with me for vaccinating seniors than other governors whose policies have killed seniors, and that’s a joke,” DeSantis said, according to the Herald.
He also defended the lack of a clear vaccine rollout plan in his state.
“If you notice, a lot of that [states] adopted plans, and then they’ve already had to change the plans, “DeSantis said last week.” We did not. ‘
The DeSantis office and the Ocean Reef Club did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.