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There’s no excuse for vaccine madness that occurred in Miami — except that DeSantis won’t give us a plan | Editorial

The chaotic scene that unfolded over the weekend at the federal vaccine site in Florida City should be proof enough even for Gov. Ron DeSantis: Florida needs a plan for an orderly rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

We cannot go on like this — nor should we.

On, Saturday, word had spread on social media and through word of mouth that anyone over 18 with a state ID could get a vaccine in Florida City because the recently opened location, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, hadn’t been using up its allotment of 500 shots a day.

Lines formed quickly, and people waited — in the pelting rain and in the beating sun — for as long as six hours for the chance to get the shots, as the Miami Herald reported.

By Sunday, workers at the site added to the confusion — however well-meaning they may have been — when they vacillated between administering the shots anyone in line or following the state’s restrictions, meaning vaccinating only those over 65 or in certain narrow categories. Some people got shots even though they didn’t qualify, while others in similar situations were sent packing.

In a comparison that should mortify the DeSantis administration, one person likened the free-for-all to a game of “real-life monopoly.” Who gets the shot? Roll the dice and see if you land on Vaccine Place.

By the time Sunday drew to a close, only 321 vaccines had been administered, far short of the 500-a-day the site can give out. Even though those unused shots were not “wasted” — unopened vaccines generally can be rolled over to the next day — the entire shameful episode is a symptom of a larger problem: No one except the governor knows who will officially qualify to get the vaccine next. His refusal to outline a clear strategy that leaves no one behind is what led to the kind of vaccine madness we saw on Saturday and Sunday.

Clearly, it’s imperative that community groups and other civic organizations relentlessly spread the word that vaccines are available for eligible residents wherever FEMA sets up shop. Many such residents still need to be vaccinated. No opportunity — or dose of vaccine — should go to waste.

Still, if Florida City wasn’t enough proof that Florida’s vaccine distribution isn’t working, Miami Dade College’s North Campus offered another example. Vaccine workers there were accepting doctors’ letters for people with specific medical conditions that put them at risk for COVID complications. The Florida City site, though, turned away people with notes on Sunday, only accepting a state form signed by a doctor. Such mixed messaging doesn’t help things.

In Jacksonville, too, there were signs that the state’s lack of a plan was catching up to it. The FEMA vaccine site there was empty at times on Sunday, and the numbers of those vaccinated there in the last few days had dropped.

The DeSantis administration repeatedly has said it does not want to set a priority list for vaccines because it might have to change the plan, insisting that its vaccine distribution decisions are “data driven.”

If that’s true, we need to see whatever data supports the situations we saw across the state over the weekend. Do the numbers tell DeSantis that sites without enough qualified people should be left idle, with vaccines at the ready but no one to receive them?

A fix for the immediate issue doesn’t seem very hard. We could start by setting up two lines at each site, one for those qualified under state rules and one for stand-bys. If no one qualified is in line, we could let others get the shots. The goal, let’s not forget, is to get everyone vaccinated so we can put this terrible year behind us.

The governor took a step in the right direction on Monday, announcing he’ll lower the eligibility age to 60 and older starting March 15. That will help.

But the larger issue still remains. This administration, which has dodged and slow-walked public-records requests that would help the public determine risk during the pandemic, insists on treating the vaccine program as political capital rather than life-saving medicine. It’s clear the governor prefers to continue his cross-state personal appearances to announce new rounds of vaccines to select communities as he plans for his reelection campaign next year and a potential bid for the White House in 2024.

Florida doesn’t deserve this, though. For all of those still waiting in line, we need more than hope, governor. We need a plan.