Florida governor faces growing charges of vaccine favouritism
by Bobby Caina Calvan And Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press
Posted Mar 4, 2021 12:50 pm EDT
Last Updated Mar 4, 2021 at 12:58 pm EDT
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to the press after giving his State of the State speech on the first day of the 2021 Legislative Session in Tallahassee, Fla. Tuesday, March 2, 2021. (Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)
MIAMI Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state health officials came under deeper scrutiny amid revelations that seniors in a wealthy enclave in Key Largo received hundreds of life-saving vaccinations as early as mid -January, giving ammunition to critics who say the Republican governor is favouring wealthy constituents over ordinary Floridians.
MIAMI (AP) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state health officials came under deeper scrutiny amid revelations that seniors in a wealthy enclave in Key Largo received hundreds of life-saving vaccinations as early as mid -January, giving ammunition to critics who say the Republican governor is favoring wealthy constituents over ordinary Floridians.
The revelations were the latest example of wealthy Floridians getting earlier access to coronavirus vaccines, even as the state has lagged in efforts to get poorer residents vaccinated.
DeSantis pushed back Thursday, saying a local hospital not the state was behind the vaccinations of more than 1,200 residents of the exclusive Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida, and that the state “wasn t involved in it in any shape or form.”
Opponents say a troubling pattern in vaccine distribution has emerged showing favoritism toward the wealthy counties that are home to Republican donors.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, speaking on the first day of the 2021 Legislative Session in Tallahassee, Fla. (Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)
WASHINGTON (CN) Amid new reports that coronavirus vaccines made their way to a wealthy Florida enclave back in January, a state official invited the FBI on Thursday to investigate whether Governor Ron DeSantis has been playing favorites in the pandemic.
“If red carpet vaccine distribution for political contributions isn’t public corruption, I don’t know what is,” Nikki Fried, the state commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, tweeted this morning after a press conference in the Florida capital.