TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that he would drop the eligibility age for the coronavirus vaccine from 65 to 60, allowing 1.4 million more Floridians to get vaccinated starting next week.
DeSantis made the announcement at a news conference in which he also railed against the latest federal stimulus package, which he said rewards states struggling with the virus while penalizing states that have fared better.
As of Sunday, nearly 3.6 million Floridians had gotten at least one vaccine shot, almost three-quarters of them 65 years or older. Other eligible groups include law enforcement officers, firefighters, health care workers, teachers and people 16 and older who are extremely vulnerable to the virus.
“This is the right time to do it,” DeSantis said of lowering the age requirement. “We’re starting to see the demand soften” among seniors 65 and up, which was the first group in the general population the governor authorized to be vaccinated. “We think that that’s a good sign because we think that we have reached critical mass on the senior population.”
At the same news conference, the Republican governor called on the federal government to revise the distribution model for the $1.9 trillion stimulus package approved over the weekend. The package includes $350 billion in direct aid to states, based on the number of unemployed people in each state. DeSantis said that model punishes states that moved to quickly reopen their economies after the widespread shutdowns precipitated last year by the outbreak.
DeSantis asserted that California, New York and New Jersey will get billions of dollars more, and he said it was “fundamentally unfair.”
“All these states have something in common: They’re all deep-blue states under Democratic control and they are lockdown states. They caused a lot of damage with their policies, and now they’re getting bailed out under this bill.”
DeSantis argued the aid should be doled out on a per-capita basis. Under that model, Florida, as the country’s third-most-populous state, would get an estimated $2 billion more on top of the $17.3 billion it is projected to currently get.
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