Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade ordered all entities opposing the coronavirus Publish daily details of the trial and limited vaccine inventory in the county, the highest incidence county in Florida, one of the states most affected by the pandemic in the United States.
The mayor said the idea is that all residents over 65 would have “equitable” access to vaccines against complaints of privilege in the richest parts of the city.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, reiterated that the state is “approaching” one million vaccinees among the over-65s, correcting yet another statement from him last Friday that this goal had been achieved.
Meanwhile, cases and deaths continue to increase, with 9,535 infections and 132 deaths this Sunday for a total of 1,649,449 cases and 25,693 deaths as of March 2020, according to the Florida Department of Health.
This state ranks second with the most cases of the most contagious variant discovered in the UK, with 50 out of 195 in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). California is the first with 72 cases.
A row of cars being tested for coronavirus in a park in Miami, Florida. Photo: AP
According to official figures, 1,379,502 people had been vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna compounds as of Saturday, 155,314 of whom received both doses of the vaccines. Miami-Dade County is worst hit by the pandemic, with 4,730 dead, followed far behind by neighboring Broward County, with 2,034 dead, and Palm Beach, with 2,098 dead.
More than 25 million cases in the US.
The United States outnumbered 25 million infected this Sunday, just over a year after reporting its first case of coronavirus, reaching 417,538 deaths, leaving it the most affected country in the world.
“We are in a state of emergency and we need to ensure that vaccines are distributed fairly across all communities and that no one is left behind,” said Levine Cava when he announced the order to control doses.
From now on, hospital systems, municipalities and all other entities that administer the vaccine must post daily updates with the total number of vaccines they have received, the places where they will be administered and the number of vaccinations. The order also states that those providing the vaccines should not schedule appointments unless they have already received the doses and “have a good prediction of how many people they will be able to vaccinate.”
On Thursday, Florida health authorities ordered vaccine providers to require proof of state residency from those wishing to get vaccinated to combat so-called vaccination tourism that has infuriated many Floridians. According to Governor DeSantis, 70% is provided to people over 65.
As the numbers soar, Joe Biden’s brand-new government is trying to speed up vaccinations to stop the pandemic from spreading. Statistics also revealed that since Biden was sworn in on Wednesday, more than 500,000 Americans have contracted the virus.
The pandemic, along with immigration and economic recovery, has become one of the main tasks of the democratic leader, who has pledged to vaccinate 100 million people in the first 100 days for the Executive.
Concerns about vaccines
Officials from his government expressed concern about the dispensing of the doses on Sunday, at a time when local authorities have warned they are low on supplies or may have already used them up.
Warnings came in after that numerous vaccination appointments will begin to be canceled in states like Texas, which ranks second to California in the number of infections. California, which already has more than three million infected, delayed appointments for fear of not having enough doses.
The control centers estimate that as of this Sunday, more than 41.1 million doses have been distributed in the United States, of which only 21.8 million have been administered.
The newspaper The Washington Post noted that more than 1.3 million doses were administered in the country on Saturday, the fifth consecutive day to exceed the record one million vaccines.
Source: AFP, EFE and AP