'It's a disgrace': Seniors rage over rollout of coronavirus vaccine

Arthur and Barbara Tolkin have a new morning ritual. They get up early, grab their phones and start making calls, desperately trying to schedule an appointment to get a coronavirus vaccine.

Although the North Palm Beach couple have made scores of phone calls to health-care providers in Palm Beach County and beyond, the results have been the same.

“You cannot get through,” said 86-year-old Barbara Tolkin, who is recovering from open heart surgery. “It’s horrendous. It’s a disgrace.”

More:Coronavirus: Most seniors will wait for vaccinations as demand exceeds hospitals' supplies

She is not alone in her view.

Countless other senior citizens throughout the county have tried and failed to successfully navigate jammed phone lines to get information about the long-hoped-for vaccine.

“Nobody knows anything,” said Mildred Smiley, an 80-plus widow who lives west of Boynton Beach. “My own doctors know nothing. Hospitals know nothing. Health clinics know nothing.

“I must have aged 50 years in the last week,” said Smiley, who has called countless agencies and people, including the state surgeon general, without success. “This is outrageous in America. It’s disheartening. It’s degrading.”

While Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday insisted that efforts are underway to push the vaccine out to the state’s 4.4 million senior citizens, getting basic information from the county is difficult.

More:Coronavirus Florida: Latest charts and case counts

On Monday, after dodging the question since last Thursday, the spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department said it received 20,000 vaccines on Dec. 23 to vaccinate seniors. All but 8,100 had been used.

Further, Alexander Shaw said, an additional 4,000 had just arrived. It was unclear whether that was in addition to the 8,100 or if the 4,000 were included in the total. He did not respond to a request for clarification.

County officials have said vaccination clinics would be scheduled at retirement communities, and last week specifically said plans were underway for ones at Century Village locations in Boca Raton and West Palm Beach and Kings Point west of Delray Beach.

However, on Monday they couldn’t provide a list of any clinics that have been set up.

“As soon as the operational coordination is worked through, we will announce the locations,” county spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda said in an email.

County Administrator Verdenia Baker said a distribution plan is being formulated, mainly by the county health department.

“In working with the (county health department), it is the goal to have a plan within the next week or so,” she said. She emphasized that the county department and the state, not the county, are driving the operation.

The county had to scrap its initial vaccine rollout plan, which included first responders, after Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 23 unexpectedly announced seniors would join health-care workers and nursing home residents and staff at the front of the line. 

In the county, that is roughly 400,000 more people.

The local health department is actively, albeit slowly, administering vaccines to seniors who were able to make an appointment before its hotline crashed under an avalanche of calls. 

The hotline has been eliminated while the agency develops a web-based appointment system, the agency announced late Monday. In the meantime, seniors can request appointments by emaiing this address — chd50feedback@flhealth.gov — and including their name, phone number and date of birth.

"It is not going to be quick and we ask for the public's indulgence in getting this stuff moved through," Baker said. "All of this is dependent on a vaccine being available."

At press conferences in Longwood and Miami, DeSantis blamed the delays in the distribution of the vaccines on the Christmas and New Year’s holidays when staffing levels were low.

More:COVID-19 vaccine in Florida: DeSantis' plan, problems involved, appointments, things to know

As of Monday, only 260,655 people in Florida, including 12,983 in the county, had been vaccinated, according to state health officials.

While demand is still far outstripping supplies, with the holidays over, DeSantis said he plans to roll out additional vaccination locations.

In the coming weeks, drive-thru testing sites will be converted to vaccination centers and places of worship and hospitals will be used to inoculate those over the age of 65, he said. 

He pledged 1,000 nurses would be dispatched throughout the state to help with vaccination efforts and that additional Florida National Guard troops would be used to give shots to residents and staff of nursing homes.

CVS and Walgreens, which have contracts with the federal government to handle vaccinations at long-term care facilities, aren’t moving quickly enough, he said.

Orlando Health, where DeSantis held his first press conference of the day, will be a model for other hospitals in the state, he said.

The hospital giant, which operates several medical centers in Central Florida, has already administered the first dose of the two-shot vaccine to 10,000 staff members, said Orlando Health CEO David Strong.

This week it plans to administer another 20,000 shots to health-care workers who don’t work for Orlando Health, first responders and nursing home residents and staff. 

Family members of Orlando Health staff who are over the age of 65 will also be inoculated this week, Strong said. He defended that decision, saying that health-care workers have struggled under the fear of bringing the deadly disease home to their loved ones.

Next week, Orlando Health plans to set up six appointment-only clinics to inoculate those 65 and older, Strong said.

Jackson Health System in Miami plans today to launch a website for seniors to use to make appointments for the 14,000 vaccines it expects to receive each week. Three vaccination locations are to be available in Miami-Dade County. 

As trusted health-care providers, hospitals should lead vaccination efforts, DeSantis said. "Hospitals are crucial to rapidly expanding COVID vaccinations," he said.

Medical centers throughout the state are being asked to submit plans of how many seniors they could inoculate each week.

They must stick by their predictions. Those who fall behind will see their supplies limited while those who are doing a good job will be rewarded with additional vaccines, he said. 

Further, he said, he will require vaccination centers to be open seven days a week.

Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System, said he expects 60%, or roughly 465,000, of the Miami-Dade County seniors will receive their first dose by early February. On Monday, some health-care workers began getting their second dose.

“I believe supplies will get stronger, not softer,” Migoya said.

The announcement of expanded testing came as the number of coronavirus cases, deaths, hospitalizations and the positivity rate continued to explode throughout the state.

An additional 11,256 cases were reported statewide by the Florida Department of Health. That marked the seventh day in a row that more than 10,000 cases have been reported.

Palm Beach County’s case count swelled by 796. The 96,515 new cases reported in the past week is far more than the roughly 83,000 that were being reported weekly in July when the virus was ravaging the state.

Overall, nearly 1.377 million people in the state, including 86,275 in the county, have been diagnosed with the highly contagious respiratory disease since the pandemic began.

Deaths are also mounting. On Monday, 105 deaths, including 12 in the county, were reported. That pushed the state’s death toll to 22,415 and the county’s to 1,950.

More:'I feel like a piece of me died with him': How COVID ravaged Palm Beach County

Researchers say deaths are under-reported due to a five-week delay between when a fatality occurs and when it is logged by the state.

The state’s and the county’s positivity rates also remained well above the 5% level recommended by health experts.

Statewide on Monday, 12.5% of the tests were positive while the rate in the county jumped to 11.74%.

The rate indicates the prevalence of the disease. Experts say it must consistently remain below 5% before meaningful efforts can be taken to control the spread.

Hospitalizations also continued to climb. On Monday, 7,175 people were being treated for COVID-19 at hospitals across the state. It was the first time more than 7,000 people were hospitalized since early August.

Patient counts in the county also continued to grow with nearly 400 hospitalized. That is the most since mid-August.

Still, despite the increases, hospitals reported that they have plenty of capacity should there be a surge of people who are gravely ill.

Without talking about the recent increases in cases and deaths, DeSantis acknowledged that the roll-out of the vaccine has been problematic. But, he said, the delays are understandable.

“This is a very difficult logistical operation,” he said. “All in all, it’s probably gone better than we expected.”

While demand continues to outstrip supplies, he said he expects that will change .

A vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson could be approved by early February. Because it is a one-dose vaccine, it will be much easier to administer.

Once approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said, it would likely be used to vaccinate teachers, hospitality workers and other workers.

But, he said, that won't happen until all seniors who want a vaccination receive it.

"Our priority is our senior citizens," he said. "If you are 74 years old in the state of Florida, we've made the decision, we want you to get vaccinated. You're eligible, and we want you to have it."

Staff writer Hannah Morse contributed to this story.

jmusgrave@pbpost.com

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Palm Beach County - 86,275 cases, 1,950 deaths, 12,983 vaccinations

Florida - 1,376,692 cases, 22,415 deaths, 260,655 vaccinations

U.S.: 20,757,339 cases, 352,858 deaths 

World: 85,520,927 cases, 1,849,436 deaths 

HOW TO GET AN APPOINTMENT

The Palm Beach County Health Department's hotline has been eliminated while the agency develops a web-based appointment system. In the meantime, seniors can request appointments by emailing this address — chd50feedback@flhealth.gov — and including their name, phone number and date of birth.