Officials have repeatedly dropped the ball when it comes to COVID-19 response efforts, and unfortunately, it seems that the vaccine rollout is no exception.
Since the beginning of the vaccine rollout, the only citizens eligible to be vaccinated are seniors, healthcare professionals and those deemed extremely vulnerable to COVID-19. It makes perfect sense to prioritize those in our communities who are the most susceptible to the effects of the virus, but what doesn’t make sense is that we’ve made virtually no progress since the vaccine was first released. How is it that it has been months since this process began and no other demographics are eligible yet? How and why are we moving so slowly?
Some vaccination locations have reported having to toss doses that expired too quickly before they could get enough of them administered to people. Some people have been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and receive one of the vaccines that otherwise would’ve been thrown out.
The system is clearly disorganized, and worse, it has exploits. In the last few months, stories have come out about people who are ineligible in their own state coming to Florida just to get the vaccine, and they succeeded because there’s no proper verification process. Some people have even gotten doses set aside for them by friends or family members that work at distribution centers. There are doses going to waste, and doses being taken by people who are essentially “skipping the line,” all while millions of Floridians are waiting to even be eligible.
As one of the millions of Americans who has taken this pandemic seriously and has been boarded up in their house for the better part of a year, it definitely stings to watch this be handled so poorly. Not to mention, having to see some of the same government leaders who originally downplayed the severity of COVID-19 be the first in line to get the vaccine.
With the third FDA-approved vaccine being approved this week and more vaccination locations opening up, hopefully, we’ll start to see a turn in the tide. Though at this point, it seems like our only real options are to keep putting our lives on pause and to cross our fingers that our leaders get their acts together — or you could hang out outside your local pharmacy and hope they have an expiring vaccine they need to get off of their hands.
