Snowbirds lured by sun, sea, free vaccine
OTTAWA • Back in March, snowbirds Jeff and Kathy Lerner left their home in Florida earlier than planned, making the long drive back to Ontario to wait out COVID-19 in their primary country of residence.
But now the couple are contemplating a return to their gated community in Boca Raton, just north of Miami, to secure a few doses of the Pfizer- BionTech vaccine. The couple, both 65, would be joining a number of sp- called snowbirds from Canada who have travelled to Florida in recent days to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, as a slower rollout in Canada leaves elderly recipients perhaps weeks or months away from getting jabbed.
“You can jump the queue,” Jeff Lerner said. “That’s what this is all about. Instead of waiting here in Canada for God knows how long, I could go down to Florida and get vaccinated.”
Lerner had planned to travel to Florida on Friday and wait in line for a vaccination, but he and his wife were forced to cancel the trip for personal reasons. He considers the decision to fly south far from ideal, but said it appears to be their best option as vaccinations in Canada are distributed slowly relative to the U.S.
“We’re just not doing this really well,” he said. “Why is it that Canadians have to travel, or can travel, to the United States to get vaccinated? There’s something fundamentally wrong with this.”
Media reports in recent days have identified a number of elderly Canadians travelling to their secondary residences in Florida to receive vaccinations, often supplying little more than their Canadian driver’s licence for identification. Florida began inoculating elderly residents late last week, and has administered a total of nearly 350,000 doses.
Some Canadians are dissatisfied with the sluggishness of the vaccine rollout compared with other countries, as national governments race to secure doses and distribute them.
Lerner said at least one family friend, who lives in a community near Boca Raton, is scheduled to be vaccinated later this week. Another couple in Lerner’s condominium in Toronto is planning to leave for Florida later on Friday, and has an appointment to be vaccinated this weekend.
One 69- year- old man, who spoke to National Post on the condition of anonymity due to public anger over cross- border travel, said he managed to secure an appointment to be vaccinated earlier this week. He flew to Florida on Tuesday, received the Moderna vaccine on Thursday, and is now isolating in his gated community.
The man, who was vaccinated in Lee County, waited in line little more than 30 minutes. “I was impressed by how organized they were,” he said.
He plans to remain in Florida until April, and is scheduled to receive his second dose in early February. His wife is making plans to join him in a few weeks, where she will also be vaccinated months before her Canadian peers.
“Frankly, I feel extremely safe here,” he said. “Safer here than I do in Toronto.”
The man also expressed frustration over the slower vaccine rollout in Canada, saying he is “appalled and disappointed that I had to jump on an airplane to get vaccinated.”
Consultancy firms and insurance providers have been bombarded with questions from Canadian snowbirds about travelling to the U.S. to secure a COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s a hot topic for sure,” said Stephen Fine, president of online information hub Snowbird Advisor.
Fine said relatively little is known about the rules around who can be vaccinated in any given state or county, and warned that that poses risks to anyone who decides to board a plane. Insurance companies are unlikely to cover travellers, he said, while local policies around vaccine distributions could change with very little notice.