# "Florida's Vaccine Policy without saying it was to basically deny minorities vaccines" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 30, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953 "2022-03-30T03:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/21 "2022-03-30T17:25:53Z")
[I shvitzed a bit about the issue of vaccine equity almost exactly one year ago.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-travelling-for-a-vaccine/937273/11) Funnily enough, I linked to [this story (different link, same topic, the original is paywalled now)](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article249666463.html), which directly addresses the OP. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/22 "2022-03-30T17:32:36Z")
All of your links are still paywalled. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/23 "2022-03-30T17:35:08Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > All of your links are still paywalled. - Not for me. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/24 "2022-03-30T17:37:51Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > All of your links are still paywalled. The first link is to the SDMB, so it definitely is not paywalled. The second is to the Miami Herald, and is not paywalled to me. [Here’s another one.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/florida-keys-desantis-donors-b1812483.html) [Here’s another.](https://www.tampabay.com/news/2021/03/04/wealthy-florida-keys-enclave-received-vaccines-in-january-before-much-of-the-state/) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/25 "2022-03-30T18:57:07Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Publix locations are concentrated on the coasts, and Central Florida (Orlando-ish), where the most people live. This isn’t hard. Making sure all of your citizens have equal access to life saving medication isn’t easy, it’s hard. It takes work to design a system that doesn’t send vaccines to the wealthy and well served populations first, just because it’s easier to get it to them first. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/26 "2022-03-30T19:24:01Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I’m listening to an older political podcast from around the time the first wave of vaccines were being distributed around the country and the hosts are from Florida and for some reason there’s a lot of talk about minorities being “denied the vaccine in favor of white residents”. I’m guessing this is because the first wave of vaccines did not include essential workers. It was for health care workers and the elderly exclusively. The elderly population in Florida is [mostly non-Hispanic White](https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/06/20/floridas-under-70-population-now-majority-minority/). The **initial** vaccine sites in my area were not at Publix. I’m talking about late December of 2020 and the first couple weeks of January 2021. We had a couple ad-hoc sites set up in a couple parking lots. They didn’t offer appointments and only a limited number of doses were distributed before they stopped for the day. There was availability to vaccinate a small fraction of the population that was eligible for the first round. At the time, Trump and DeSantos were touting the vaccines hard. There were so many eligible that anyone who actually obtained their vaccine would have had to wait in their car overnight. We had reports of elderly people being cold and dehydrated. A person under 30 (including a person of color under 30) could only have obtained a vaccine at that stage if they were eligible as a health care worker. The hospitals vaccinated their own employees, however. Other healthcare workers would have had to sit in traffic overnight and through a good part of the morning to beat out the elderly for a vaccine. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/27 "2022-03-30T19:46:03Z")
I’m not a doctor, but I should think that the idea to get as many people vaccinated as possible is a laudable goal. Herd immunity, and all. Map of Florida population density: [florida population map - Bing images](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=VqZPmWMm&id=B824776A2E18294362F48F6C61886166118A6AC7&thid=OIP.VqZPmWMm8V7iEfAbhhHMTQHaGl&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fbigfootforums.com%2fuploads%2fmonthly_2019_05%2f943266354_FloridaPopulationDensityfrom2010Census.PNG.2b014b9a1c2b2464c13968844208735b.PNG&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.56a64f996326f15ee211f01b8611cc4d%3frik%3dx2qKEWZhiGFsjw%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=796&expw=895&q=florida+population+map&simid=608025575344444317&FORM=IRPRST&ck=A840CAF4B46A2E6E23F428CB7B3B20DB&selectedIndex=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0) Map of Florida Publix locations: [publix\_store\_map.jpg (1382×513) (netdna-ssl.com)](https://3yto781rontw1cnnh83813kx-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/publix_store_map.jpg) Seems like they track pretty closely. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/28 "2022-03-30T20:10:15Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > I’m not a doctor, but I should think that the idea to get as many people vaccinated as possible is a laudable goal. I didn’t say to reduce the number of vaccinations. I said that you don’t have to choose the most convenient method of distributing vaccinations when that method underserves certain populations. Do the extra work to ensure that the available vaccinations don’t get concentrated in easy to service areas that cater to the white population. Or, put another way, we shouldn’t make it hard for minorities to get life saving medication, because it’s easier to get that medication to white people. Especially when that ease of service is the end result of decades of institutional racism. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/29 "2022-03-30T20:21:56Z")
Let me throw one more thing into the mix. Remember that the first vaccines had to be refrigerated - REALLY refrigerated. Availability of refrigeration units **may** have have also had an effect in using a certain store chain instead of throwing it open to every chain. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/30 "2022-03-30T21:37:23Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t know what Florida’s deal was, but overall some minorities were underrepresented on immunization because of unfounded suspicions of the Man experimenting on them to deleterious effect. I would say, rather, that they were incorrect, but founded. The legacy of the Tuskegee experiment lives on. > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Publix was chosen as a vaccination cite because they have the most locations throughout the state, some 813 of them. Why do all of the sites have to be in stores owned by the same company? Why not, say, for each county, divide the county’s population by 100 thousand, or whatever, and then pick the n largest stores in that county? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/31 "2022-03-30T21:45:57Z")
At the time, Pfizer thought their vaccine had to be stored in ultracold freezers, at -70℃ or less. Moderna could be, and still is, stored at -20℃, which is more or less a standard temperature for storing vaccines. The ultracold freezer requirement for Pfizer limited the locations that could safely store the vaccines. You’re not likely to need equipment like that in small hospitals or clinics, and they’re far too expensive and too little used for a doctor’s office or pharmacy to have one. The Pfizer recommendation has been changed a bit since then: for long term storage it still needs to be kept below -62℃. If it’ll be used within a week or two, it can be stored in a standard freezer between -25℃ and -15℃. That means it can be stored at a more centralized location with the right equipment and then distributed every week or so to the locations with more standard equipment. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953/32 "2022-03-30T21:50:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Why do all of the sites have to be in stores owned by the same company? Why not, say, for each county, divide the county’s population by 100 thousand, or whatever, and then pick the n largest stores in that county? They don’t. But since they have twice the number of stores than the next largest chain, both measures would probably lead to the same locations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floridas-vaccine-policy-without-saying-it-was-to-basically-deny-minorities-vaccines/961953.md?page=1)