Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Vaccine eligibility quietly expanded
Those younger than 65 deemed high risk can go to doctors’ offices, pharmacies
Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly expanded COVID19 vaccine eligibility late last week to allow Floridians younger than 65 who have high-risk medical conditions to get the injections at doctors’ offices and pharmacies.
The governor signed an executive order late Friday that allows physicians, nurses and pharmacists to vaccinate people who “they deem extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.”
Previously, vaccines had only been available to people with “high risk” conditions through hospitals, which were left to determine for themselves which conditions and patients qualified.
The new order means eligible people could now be able to get the shot at pharmacies like Walmart and Publix, but does not
include the state and county run vaccination sites.
As of Sunday evening, Walmart’s website for COVID-19 vaccine appointments at its pharmacies did not include the expanded state criteria.
The order didn’t specify what documentation will be required when showing up for a vaccine appointment at a participating pharmacy.
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, who had been pushing for vulnerable people to be added to the state’s vaccine rollout, applauded the move.
“The news of the expansion is huge because for people with comorbidities younger than 65, it’s never been a question of eligibility, it’s been a question of access and availability,” Smith said.
He added that “a doctor’s note should be all that’s needed” for a vulnerable person to get inoculated at a pharmacy.
Earlier this month, Smith and his staff helped vulnerable residents make appointments through Walmart when the retail giant mistakenly offered appointments to people under 65 with comorbidities, which was contrary to the governor’s standing order at the time.
Appointments made during the small window before Walmart corrected its mistake were honored, which Smith called a “trial run of this process.”
“I think when the governor saw that, when the state saw that folks were able to get their vaccines at a Walmart pharmacy without any problems using a doctor’s note, they decided to expand the program,” Smith said.
DeSantis has previously expressed reluctance to allow retailers, including those giving shots through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, to take on the role of deciding which potentially vulnerable people qualify for the vaccine.
“Really, it’s either got to be in a doctor’s office or in a hospital for that to be done,” he said Feb. 9. “I would hate to have a place like Publix, where someone comes in and they’re 35 and they say they have a comorbidity, and then Walmart or Publix has to referee that.”
Advocacy groups for people with a variety of illnesses that make them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19, including people with Down syndrome, have been pleading with the state to expand access to vaccine doses for the medically vulnerable.
Research has found that people with Down syndrome who become infected with COVID-19 are five times more likely to be hospitalized and 10 times more likely to die — the likely result of respiratory and immune system abnormalities.
Heather Barnes, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida, said in a statement that “having access to the COVID-19 vaccine is going to be a game changer for so many of our families that have been living in fear.”
Hospitals have had latitude in choosing whom to inoculate. Orlando Health has included within the vulnerable category people with cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, solid organ transplant patients, obesity, pregnancy, a history of smoking and Type 2 diabetes.