DeSantis’ words

● Transcript from March 4 news conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis:

“Well one, the Miami Herald article was a train wreck. That was not a site that we were involved in in the Keys. What that was was one of the South Florida hospital systems, went and went to this community and vaccinated a bunch of seniors.

“I think that’s great. I want seniors to get shots. I think they did a good job doing that. We just weren’t involved with it in any way shape or form. In the initial few three or four weeks, as you remember, the hospitals were getting the lion’s share of the vaccine. We had nursing homes. We had hospitals. Some of the county health departments started to get them at the end of December, which you really didn’t see the big push even in the counties until January.

“So that was something that one of the systems went. They went on site. They did 1,000 to 2,000, however many seniors. And my view is if you’re 65 and up, I’m not worried about your income bracket, I’m worried about your age bracket, because it’s the age, not the income that shows the risk. And so they were able to go in a community that is heavily senior and vaccinate people, that’s very, very good.

“But for that article to suggest that somehow that was one of our sites, that’s just factually wrong. I think it was good that they did it. I support the hospitals doing that and really being proactive, and trying to reach as many seniors as possible. But it was a really, really poorly executed hit piece, and what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to concoct manufactured narratives, but they don’t have the facts to back it up and that’s a perfect example of that.

“So it was a major failure, and you know we’re happy that the hospitals were doing that. But again, that wasn’t one of our sites.”

● Asked about a contribution from Ocean Reef resident, Bruce Rauner, the former Republican governor of Illinois and former chairman of the Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR, who wrote a $250,000 check on Feb. 25, DeSantis said:

“We had nothing to do with it. The state was not involved with that. And I don’t know, do you know has he even been vaccinated? Do you know? OK, so I mean literally they’re just trying to indulge in conspiracy theories, but that was not a state site. It was not anything that the state set up. it was done through one of the hospital systems that had vaccine. They thought it made sense to go and do 65 and plus, and I think it was a smart decision to do that.

“And they’ve done other things I’m sure in other parts of the community as well but it wasn’t a state site and so that article was just flat wrong.”