Senior Floridians Will Get Vaccine Before Essential Workers, DeSantis Says

According to the Tampa Bay Times , Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced that Floridians older than 70 will have priority to receive COVID-19 vaccinations over essential workers and younger people with underlying health conditions. He balked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's proposed recommendations to first give the shots to essential workers and adults of any age with certain underlying conditions. "The vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is going to be greatest, and that's in our senior population," DeSantis declared. Florida is still in Phase 1a of the vaccine rollout, with officials receiving and distributing two-shot doses from Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna. The first doses are going to most healthcare workers and residents of long-term communities, and Florida's progress with the rollout has sparked debate over who should be next in line. A Harvard University vaccine prioritization model demonstrated that immunizing younger people stops more transmission of the virus, but vaccinating older people prevents more deaths.