Florida extends vaccine access to teachers, who are 50 and older

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order to expand eligibility requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine across the state of Florida to include police officers over the age of 50, firefighters over the age of 50 and over, and K-12 school staff aged 50 and over.

The governor announced the executive order during a briefing in Tallahassee on Monday.

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The governor credited the expansion to the emergency use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, which was approved by the FDA on Sunday.

“We don’t know exactly how much, but provisionally, the numbers we’re looking for for Johnson and Johnson’s shipment to Florida this week are 175,000 doses that haven’t been confirmed yet, but we expect it to be very soon,” he said. DeSantis.

Read the new executive order here.

The governor said he believes all people who fall into this extended eligibility can be vaccinated with the initial shipment of the J&J vaccine.

“We could probably shoot all that K-12 staff and police up to 50 people, just with our J&J dispatch,” DeSantis said.

However, he failed to say that the shipment would be allocated specifically for this purpose.

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“There’s an argument that says J&J may be even better for some people, but at least what I would say is that if you get a chance to take the J&J, take the J&J,” DeSantis said.

Wendy Doromal, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, said she appreciates the new guidelines that include more teachers, but says she believes all teachers should be vaccinated.

“Of course, we appreciate every step, the baby’s steps are good, but here we need a giant step,” Doromal said.

This new expansion comes after DeSantis signed another executive order on Friday, extending the vaccine’s eligibility to include people hospitalized and doctors consider “extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.”

“This is a huge expansion of access to the covetous vaccine to medically vulnerable people under 65,” said Orlando State Representative Carlos Guillermo-Smith. “If you are medically vulnerable to COVID, under 65 with a medical grade, you will be able to get the vaccine.”

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Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Franc Cadet of the Orange Blossom family in Orlando said he has not received any guidance from the state on guidelines for vaccinating people considered extremely vulnerable.

“Is it a chronic disease, is it a multiple chronic disease, is it just a note from the doctor saying I have a chronic high blood pressure disease? I need the vaccine. That’s what worries me, “Cadet said.” We definitely need more information and more guidance when it comes to people with chronic illnesses. “

Cadet said he appreciates the push to vaccinate more people, but fears the elderly who want the vaccine to be missed.

“I’m worried about the elderly who may be missing, the rest of the people over 65,” Cadet said.

The announcement of the executive order came after the governor and several state lawmakers announced plans for legislation aimed at China and other foreign governments that could attempt to steal intellectual property from companies and research institutes based. in Florida.

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“The Chinese Communist Party has become a mission of its global expansion of power to steal the intellectual property of our businesses, our government and our academic institutions,” DeSantis said.

These bills will be debated during the 2021 legislative session that began Monday in Tallahassee.

Dr. Raul Pino, head of health in Orange County, described the vaccination process for the new group.

“We need to verify age, we need to verify residency and now we need to verify if they are firefighters if they are law enforcement and work at the school,” Pino said.

Alan Harris with Seminole County Emergency Management explains how prepared the county is to vaccinate this new group.

“We have been planning this activity. Part of our planning was always to do an evening-night event, so next week we’ll be launching some afternoon events for those people 50 and older who meet the criteria, ”Harris said.

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Scott Howat and OCPS shared how many newly eligible school staff qualify for a vaccine in the district

“So 9,542 would be eligible,” Howat said.

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