[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

I'm not looking for self serving pronouncements from any single person, I'm looking for an objective explanation of how it was determined what entity would administer any step of the process. I'm looking at whether there was a competitive bidding process and who determined the specifications. I'm looking for someone to definitively answer and support the answer of were there political donations made by those who would be in a position to benefit from a hazy situation? And all I get is more haze.

Surely public records must exist to explain how the decision was made to award these very lucrative contracts to Publix. Why should it be so hard to expose them to the light of day to determine if there was something wrong with the process or something wrong with the reports that are characterizing it as such?

And just what is it you don't understand that Publix is but one organization, business distributing covid vaccines in Florida?

I repeat, Publix is NOT the only place in town to get covid vaccines. Never has been. County public health departments, CVS, Walgreens, Winn Dixie, and through the Millennium Physicians Group are those that I know of that give out vaccines in Florida.


Your attempted partisan witch hunt is predicated on a false assumption that Publix expected to be the sole provider of covid vaccines to the residents of Florida. Like California and BC/BS. You might ask their guv'ner about that.

As for your question as to how it was determined which organizations or businesses would provide covid vaccines, and how the Publix pharmacies came to be on that list ( of others that also provide the vaccine), it's been answered in abundance in this thread, in the posts and links provided in those posts.

That's it. I'm done.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

The Ocean Reef community referred to is an exclusive "Membership Only" gated community. The least expensive home available for sale there is over $1.5Million. The average price of a pre-owned home there is around $3Million. On the high end, there's one for sale for $14Million.

The vaccine was made available FIRST, to wealthy donors, by membership to this community exclusively.

Like I said before, there were 1200 ELDERLY in that community. The elderly were a PRIORITY in Florida because they are the most vulnerable. Thousands of non-wealthy people got it way before that community. We were vaccinating old people in long term care facilities, nursing home, underserved communities long before that community got any shots so they were NOT the first to get it.

Is it your opinion that we should just ignore old people who happen to have a little money and deprive them of the vaccine? Or would you prefer everybody show their bank statements and those with the lowest balance gets theirs first and those with the highest balances get put at the end of the line?

[RogueMom]

As if $100,000 is going to yield a lot of ”influence” in the political arena, LOL.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

Where is the description of who awarded the contract to Publix discussed or documented? And why would CVS or Walgreen's with more outlets not be a better choice than Publix?

Please explain why large donations to one party concurrent with such a decision to award contracts would not be pertinent.

CVS and Walgreen's WERE giving the shots out LONG before Publix got involved. The directive given to CVS and Walgreens was to make seniors in long term care facilities and nursing homes their top priority along with the staff of these facilities in order to protect them. Once that mission was complete, both Walgreens and CVS were to then turn their attention to seniors in the general population.

Donations to campaigns are given to both parties, not just republicans. Donations had nothing to do with vaccine distribution or there would not have been a priority list starting with long term care facilities and then seniors and so on and so forth

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by Supervision required

At first Publix got most of the vaccines. They are still getting a large quantity compared to other places.

You won't find a Publix in low income areas, that's a fact so yes the vaccines were not evenly distributed.

If you want an appointment with Publix you better wake up early if you live in South Florida, Tampa or Orlando because your window is only like 1 hour (7-8 am Monday, Wed, Friday). Pensacola and Jax usually have all day to book their appointments.

I got my vaccine through FEMA in a popup location.

This just completely blows up the narrative that vaccines were readily available to "the wealthy". You say Publix is not in low income areas (not true, but whatever), then you go on to say how difficult it is to get the vaccine at Publix, indicating the wealthy are NOT getting an advantage. There are health departments, health clinics and yes even Publix in low income areas. Anybody that has a computer can verify this but I'll give you a few examples of what's available in some low income and majority minority areas:

Zip Code: 32209 97.99% minority has 12 places to get a vaccine within 5 miles
Zip Code: 33311 81.29% minority has 17 places to get a vaccine within 5 miles
Zip Code: 33056 88.49% minority has 26 places to get a vaccine within 5 miles
Zip Code: 33054 77% minority has 25 places to get a vaccine within 5 miles

Are there rural areas that have just a few options, yes, but we've been putting in pop up vaccine sites in those areas since early January and working with local churches to get vaccines out into the communities who are underserved.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by thetiredone

Really? I did not know that. I never watch it, but I did see it on YouTube because of all the hype on TV about it.







Well the local news said that a certain senior retirement community was calling the rich people who donated to them to see if they wanted the shot. And one lady interviewed declined it and maybe she is the one who reported it to the local news people.

I've been getting phone calls and even emails and text messages letting me know when the vaccine is available in my area for months and I'm not in any way rich so these calls are not exclusive to rich people. I just got a text from Winn Dixie yesterday. I've already gotten my 1st shot through a health clinic and will get my 2nd on Monday but I'm still getting contacted by other places because my name is on their list for the shot.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

Where is the description of who awarded the contract to Publix discussed or documented? And why would CVS or Walgreen's with more outlets not be a better choice than Publix?

Please explain why large donations to one party concurrent with such a decision to award contracts would not be pertinent.

The Florida Department of Health AND Palm Beach county mayor (both democrats) asked DeSantis to use Publix so it wasn't even his idea. This has all been reported in the news.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

I'm not looking for self serving pronouncements from any single person, I'm looking for an objective explanation of how it was determined what entity would administer any step of the process. I'm looking at whether there was a competitive bidding process and who determined the specifications. I'm looking for someone to definitively answer and support the answer of were there political donations made by those who would be in a position to benefit from a hazy situation? And all I get is more haze.

Surely public records must exist to explain how the decision was made to award these very lucrative contracts to Publix. Why should it be so hard to expose them to the light of day to determine if there was something wrong with the process or something wrong with the reports that are characterizing it as such?

The Florida Department of Health AND the mayor of Palm Beach county approached DeSantis and made the Publix recommendation. Both are on record saying this so I don't know what more you want. Anybody who knows anything about Florida would know Publix is an obvious choice to help get the vaccine out considering they have over 800 locations and 90% of our elderly people live within a few miles of at least one, if not more. I have 4 of their stores within 5 miles of my house with one being 1/2 mile away.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by CLR210

I've been getting phone calls and even emails and text messages letting me know when the vaccine is available in my area for months and I'm not in any way rich so these calls are not exclusive to rich people. I just got a text from Winn Dixie yesterday. I've already gotten my 1st shot through a health clinic and will get my 2nd on Monday but I'm still getting contacted by other places because my name is on their list for the shot.

Now, yes, this is happening across the state; but back in January and February it was harder to come by an appointment and even some nursing homes were not getting vaccines. Certain areas of the state have an easier appointment set up then others and less people to get vaccinated. In some cases they are issued more vaccines than they can give.

I am one who does believe that donations did influence where the vaccine went first, I can say this is true because of first hand knowledge. I was given the chance to get ours, before we actually decided to get our vaccine, without making an appointment at a site not publicly giving the vaccine. So yes some of what 60 Minutes reported has some truth to it. In the end I decided in March to get the vaccine and jumped through all the hoops to get mine-though my husband was again offered a first in line the next time the vaccine went to a certain company. He ended up not getting it, though.

[CLR210]

Originally Posted by RogueMom

As if $100,000 is going to yield a lot of ”influence” in the political arena, LOL.

Right?? I'm pretty sure if this were a "pay to play" scheme DeSantis would have expected a lot more than 100k like Newsom did in California. https://www.politico.com/states/cali...ollout-1368548