Broward mayor asks DeSantis to allow COVID-19 vaccine be given to residents 55 and older
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Broward Mayor Steve Geller wants people over 55, law enforcement officers and teachers to be allowed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Hoping to expand the vaccination priority list, Geller has asked Gov. Ron DeSantis for help.
On Friday, Geller wrote to DeSantis asking that in his next executive order pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccine, the governor could include language that would expand the vaccine priority list to residents 55 and older, teachers, officers and other first responders that have not yet received the vaccine in Florida.
“People over 55 have an increased risk of bad results from exposure to COVID, all first responders run the risk of contracting COVID while protecting us and vaccinating teachers will help with a full return of children to our schools,” Geller wrote in the letter.
In Broward County, 221,884 people have been vaccinated — 93,684 people who’ve received the first dose and 128,200 who’ve completed the two-shot vaccine series, the Florida Department of Health reported Friday.
Geller says there are 340,000 seniors in Broward and only about 250,00 want the vaccine. Broward has vaccinated 47 percent of its 65-and-over population, ahead of the state’s 43 percent average and ahead of Miami-Dade’s 39 percent rate.
“With the increasing number of vaccines available, it seems clear that within the next month we will have vaccinated everyone over 65 in Broward that currently wants to receive a vaccine,” Geller wrote. “Therefore, I expect that you will be issuing a new executive order in the near future to expand the list of people eligible to receive the COVID vaccine.”
On Friday, Jackson Health System announced that beginning next week, it will start offering COVID-19 vaccines to those 55 and older with a doctor’s note stating you have one of 13 medical conditions that have a high risk for severe disease outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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