ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s COVID-19 vaccination program was supposed to give top priority to residents in long-term care facilities, but critics say the process has been marred by confusion, delays and a lack of information — even as healthy 65-year-olds are able to get vaccines through county health departments.
“This is an unacceptable situation to all of us,” Steve Kramer, president and CEO of The Mayflower at Winter Park, wrote in a Dec. 29 letter to residents. “We have independent-living residents, some in compromised health, that have no idea when, or if, they will be getting vaccinated. And our skilled nursing and assisted living residents will not receive the vaccine for at least another week and a half.”
While the Florida Department of Health has taken charge of vaccination clinics operated in the counties — an option open to anyone 65 and older — the job of administering the vaccine program at more than 3,000 Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities has been contracted to Walgreens and CVS Health with questionable results.
