Jackson Well being Contemplating Opening Covid Vaccines to 55-65 Age Group – NBC 6 South Florida

The head of the Jackson Health System in Miami says the hospital group is considering an age-reduction plan for those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Jackson Health said they have already vaccinated 83,000 people and CEO Carlos Migoya is currently in talks with the governor’s office to lower the age limit for the vaccine to 55 years.

At a news conference near Tampa on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the vaccination age will remain 65 and older for the time being, except for people under 65 with a specific disease, but he said that among seniors as many Progress is being made towards this opening the door to those under this age to possibly be offered the vaccine soon.

“Approximately 42% of all seniors in the state of Florida were given a chance. That’s one of the highest percentages in the county,” DeSantis said.

Florida has approximately 4.5 million seniors who have received approximately 2 million shots to date, DeSantis said.

“When we get to two and a half, three million you will find that the demand is going down. So if you have Walmart, Publix, or these community sites, they have trouble filling appointments. Well, we’re going to open it, but from now on we still have more demand than supply weekly, so we’ll stay on course and help seniors first, “said DeSantis. “As soon as the seniors are done, we will open it.”

Officials with Jackson said the demand with seniors appears to be decreasing and that as they continue to work their way through seniors they may have a plan in place with the state by the end of the week to lower the age limit.

What is the potential sticking point? If you are 55 to 65 years old, you must also have an underlying medical condition. How that is defined and who will make that definition is still what it takes to pin down.

Bringing the age down would have a real impact on people like Alberto Ruiz, who lives in Doral and, like many others, is ready to go back to his pre-pandemic life.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have it. It is often not a permanent solution, we don’t know, but if it is offered we should use it. It is better than nothing,” said Ruiz.