Ron DeSantis, the Trump-loving Florida governor, has gotten into hot water over claims his office has been directing vaccines to affluent communities with Republican donors.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that leaked text messages between donors and officials indicate that the DeSantis office was involved in determining which areas will receive special access to vaccines despite the governor’s rejection of preferential treatment.
It’s about the way Manatee County officials originally determined vaccination eligibility versus the way in which vaccination eligibility was actually determined.
The key figure here is Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, who has reportedly coordinated with the governor’s office to organize high profile vaccination events in the county.
“Baugh and her fellow commissioners voted unanimously in January [vaccination] Random standby pool to make the system fairer, ”writes the Tampa Bay Times. “But text messages indicate that neither Baugh nor the governor’s office suggested relying on the random pool to find out who would get the vaccine at Lakewood Ranch.”
Instead, the governor’s office directly asked Lakewood Ranch developer Rex Jensen to create a list of people who would be given priorities for vaccination.
Jensen subsequently complained to Baugh that he did not have the resources to make such a list, and she worked to help him put names together.
“Emails show that Baugh directed the county public safety director and staff to only pull residents who listed their zip codes as 34202 and 34211 when they registered,” reports the Tampa Bay Times. “Both zip codes are in Baugh’s district.”
Additionally, the paper writes, “Neither the Florida Department of Health, Florida Emergency Management, nor the governor’s office would explain why they asked Jensen and Baugh to list vaccine recipients rather than relying on random vaccine standby -Leave the district’s pool. ”
Read the full report here.
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