MIAMI – The free covid vaccination campaign – 19 to those over 65 years is attracting tourists to Florida from other areas of the country, Canada and Latin America, something that has caused outrage in many Floridians, who have already asked to end this “vaccine tourism” .
Several messages published on a social network by an Argentine presenter from television that counted live the vaccination of his mother in Miami, triggered alarms that later have not stopped ringing, as other similar cases have been known.
The mayor of Miami, Francis Suárez , in a television statement, said that it is “disgusting” that this happens and promised to investigate the matter.
The media also collect statements from ordinary people who have reacted with indignation and request priority for residents in a state where the authorities They do not tire of repeating that the demand for vaccines is greater than the availability and they ask people for patience.
Gonzalo Martínez, 76 years old and who has a pacemaker, complained in a statement to Univision that “it is quite serious that they are vaccinating tourists while American citizens cannot get vaccinated. ”
A Mexican tourist, Miguel Bergencal, who spoke from the car where he was waiting for his turn to get vaccinated, he said he came to Florida for that reason, because “in Mexico the situation is quite complex.”
A state with increasing cases and deaths Current numbers of cases and deaths from covid – 19 in Florida are the highest since last March. On Thursday and Friday the cases new newspapers exceeded 19. 000.
E he state government of Florida, which has never made the use of masks mandatory since the beginning of the pandemic, is entirely committed to the vaccine and not to other measures to lower the rise in the incidence of the disease.
The vaccination plan, which began in mid-December, is currently focused on first-line medical personnel, residents of geriatric centers and those who care for them and in those over 65 years, who are having to queue for hours at vaccination centers and struggling with computer systems to obtain appointment, which are often collapsed.
Not only the Argentine presenter Yanina Torres made public her joy for having managed to get her mother, older than 65 years, she was vaccinated in a stadium on the outskirts of Miami where a vaccine administration center has been operating since this week.
Former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Ri chard Parsons told CNBC this Friday that he traveled from New York to Florida to get vaccinated and praised the plan of this southern state to immunize those over 65 years.
“I don’t know how Florida is ahead of everyone. You go online, you make an appointment and you get the appointment, ”said Parsons, who is 72 years old.
Investigations underway The digital newspaper MyPalmBeachPost reproduced this Saturday some of the reactions that the residents of South Florida produced on Comment from Former Time Warner Chairman.
Carol DeLaster, 76, complained that “People here can’t get the vaccine and (Parsons) makes it look like this is a piece of cake (kind of easy and nice).”
“It’s crazy,” added DeLaster, but the truth is that neither Parsons nor Torres’s mother did anything illegal to get vaccinated in Florida, where vaccine candidates are only asked to prove that they are 65 years by means of an identity document with a photograph.
This week it was also learned that there is an investigation open to a residence g of Palm Beach County (southeast Florida) where they were allegedly vaccinated against covid – 19 no just employees and residents, but more than 80 donors to the institution and members of a nearby country club.
In addition, a Miami-Dade County hospital, Baptist Health South, was known to vaccinate people who were neither health personnel nor patients but people who “support” the institution.
According to the Miami Herald newspaper, other hospitals in South Florida have done the same with their donors.
The Republican Senator from Florida Rick Scott wrote on Twitter that it is “immoral” that vaccines are administered in a geriatric center to those who do not work or reside there.
Questioned by the media on whether Florida is currently a mecca for “vaccine tourism”, Governor Ron DeSantis indicated that it is difficult to prevent those who do not reside permanently vaccinated here, given the number of people from other areas of the country and other nations who spend time in the state or have vacation homes.
However, he stated: “We are discouraging people from coming to Florida just to get the vaccine. ”
According to DeSantis, more 250, 000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that his administration has requested from the federal government.
4.5 million people live in Florida for 65 years or more. As of today, 384, 223 people in this state have received the vaccine , according to official figures.