Q&A of the Day – Is there anything fishy with Florida’s vaccine distribution? Part 2
Bottom Line: In the first part of today’s Q&A, I specifically outlined allegations made against Governor DeSantis pertaining to two pop-up vaccine sites in Manatee County and two Manatee Commissioners which had an alleged text exchange that’s been called into question. As outlined, there’s no evidence Governor DeSantis directed anything in Manatee County even if we’re to assume the worst from the text and innuendo. But now about the vaccinations themselves. Governor DeSantis indicated Manatee become a focus for expanded vaccinations because they were lagging other part of the state in vaccinations up to that point. The beauty of this process is that we receive daily vaccine reports from the Florida Department of Health and can fact check what’s happened where across the state. Using Saturday’s Vaccine Report from the FDOH, here’s a look at Manatee County’s vaccination situation.
- Manatee County’s percent of Florida's population: 1.9%. Manatee County’s share of total vaccinations - 2.1%.
Manatee County’s share of vaccines is near identical to their population. There’s no clear indication they’ve been specifically favored because they’re a Republican stronghold. Now using this same exercise let’s look at the state’s three largest counties for registered Democrats. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County.
- Palm Beach County’s percent of Florida's population: 6.9%. PBC’s share of the vaccines – 8.1%
- Broward County’s percent of Florida's population: 9%. Broward’s share of the vaccines – 8.8%
- Miami-Dade's percent of Florida’s population: 12.7%. Dade’s share of the vaccines – 12.1%
The net-net of it is that Florida’s three largest populations of Democrats account for 28.6% of Florida’s population and have administered 29% of the state’s vaccines. So, just to be clear, Florida’s Democrat strongholds have received more vaccines than the rest of the state as a whole including, including Republican strongholds like Manatee County. There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. As per usual news media is only interested in conveying one side of a story.
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