Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Mayor wants teachers, people over 55 in next vaccine round
Broward Mayor Steve Geller wants people 55 and older, teachers and more first responders to have access to Florida’s next vaccine rollout.
Hoping to expand the vaccine priority list, he wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday. Geller asked DeSantis to include language that would expand the vaccine priority list the next time the governor issues an executive order related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“People over 55 have increased risk of bad results from exposure to COVID, all first responders run the risk of contracting COVID while protecting us, and vaccinating teachers will help with a full return of children to our schools,” Geller wrote. “This is not necessarily the exclusive list of people that you may wish to add.”
Geller explained in the letter that many first responders were not able to get vaccines in the first rollout. And within the next month, anyone in the county over 65 who wants a vaccine probably will have received one, he wrote.
So far, 211,000 Broward residents have been vaccinated, he wrote. Out of 340,000 seniors, only about 250,000 want the vaccine, he said.
“With the increasing number of vaccines available, it seems clear that within the next month we will have vaccinated everyone over 65 in Broward that currently wants to receive a vaccine,” he wrote. “When you issue your new order, I am strongly requesting that you consider adding persons 55 and older, law enforcement personnel (and other first responders that have not yet received the vaccine), and teachers to the vaccine priority list.”
On Friday, Jackson Health System said it will start offering COVID-19 vaccines to those 55 and older with a doctor’s note next week, the Miami Herald reported. The doctor’s note must say you have one of 13 medical conditions that have a high risk for severe disease outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.