By: Jerry Wang
Florida’s governor, Mr. DeSantis’s, opposition towards childhood vaccination has led to Florida medical facilities not being able to order covid vaccines before the FDA authorization on June 17th.
Before Friday, medical professionals had been trying to persuade Governor DeSantis to change his stance on vaccinations. While they were able to convince him to allow for child vaccination in the end, Governor DeSantis decided to refuse preorders of vaccines before the FDA’s authorization of the vaccine for the younger age group. Not being able to order before Friday meant that Florida would miss two vaccine ordering deadlines. The White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Ashish K. Jha stated they “intentionally missed multiple deadlines to order vaccines to protect its youngest kids.”
A massive issue with the situation overall was that the ordering information was not given out. Dr. Lisa Gwynn, the president of the Florida chapter of American Pediatrics, didn’t receive word that preorders wouldn’t be possible even while communicating with the Florida Department of Health. She said that, “[t]hey’re not telling me this.” Even as late as Thursday, state officials had informed her that orders could be made at any time. She was also falsely told that she could order directly from the federal government.
The governor’s lack of support towards the vaccination of children stems from him thinking that there is no benefit to vaccinating children. When asked why he thinks that there is no reason to give the children vaccines he said, “[t]hese are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.” Even after being pressured by a congress subcommittee that overlooked the coronavirus defense, DeSantis stood by his initial stance that the protective measures in children aren’t needed.
However, the lax response is not entirely justified. Despite the fact that most infants who test positive for covid have mild to low symptoms, there are cases that are more severe. Saying younger civilians have no risk is not true.
Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655667870792x262142299314503700/Florida%20Allows%20Doctors%20to%20Order%20Covid%20Vaccines%20for%20Young%20Children%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf