Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith urges Gov DeSantis to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for K-12 educators

Florida House Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, on Tuesday sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging him to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for K-12 school teachers and school district employees, especially those over 65 years of age in direct contact with students.

Smith posted the full text of the letter to his Twitter account, while laying out the shockingly simple mathematics behind his proposal. By his calculations, this 65-and-up prioritization would only entail vaccinating 875 front-line employees in Orange County. 

In that same Twitter thread, Smith stressed that while his end goal is “quick/effective vaccine distribution to ALL educators … at minimum, we can prioritize our most vulnerable to vaccines now.”

Smith pledged that he would continue fighting for vaccines to be made available to all educators and school district employees across the board. They are, after all, essential workers.

Currently in Florida, only front line health care workers, seniors 65 years of age and older, and some long-term care residents and staff are eligible for vaccinations.

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This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2021.