JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – While medical workers and those with a high risk of exposure to COVID-19 made up the brunt of the first phase of the vaccination rollout in Florida, health care staff who are not connected to a major hospital say they’ve been passed over.
In letters sent this month to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians asked that community-based primary care physicians who aren’t affiliated with hospitals be vaccinated as part of phase one.
“As we know from previous experience in March and April of this year across the country, it is critical that hospitals and associated health systems throughout Florida prepare to best respond to the expected COVID-19 related surge of at-risk individuals who will be inevitably admitted for treatment after the holidays,” the letters said. “Concurrently, it is critically important to not ignore the need to limit this surge by ensuring non-critical, COVID-19 positive patients have a trusted, reliable alternative other than the hospital emergency departments.”
The academy said that if these primary health care workers have to quarantine, in many cases, patients will be left without a doctor and will instead opt for the hospital emergency room, where resources have been stretched thin.
“Concurrently, it is critically important to not ignore the need to limit this surge by ensuring non-critical, COVID-19 positive patients have a trusted, reliable alternative other than the hospital emergency departments,” the letters said.
READ: Letter to Florida governor | Letter to state surgeon general
Dr. Charles Booras is semi-retired after working as a physician at Baptist Health for more than 35 years. He now runs his own practice and sees around 40 patients a week.
“We’re certainly an integral part of the health care system,” Booras said. “So our patients lose their provider if we go down, and at the least, we’re going to be quarantine for 10 days at a minimum.”
Booras is 67 years old, making him eligible to receive a vaccine in the current phase because he’s older than 65 -- not because of his occupation.
“So, if I end up in a hospital with more serious problems, I’m taking up space for somebody else who might be sicker than myself,” Booras said. “And I might be out for a much longer period of time.”
News4Jax contacted the offices of DeSantis, Rivkees and the Florida Department of Health for a response to the academy’s letter, but no reply was received at the time of publication.