It’s starting to look like some people claimed privilege for a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I take full responsibility for it all,” Manatee County Commission Chair Vanessa Baugh said Feb. 18 after establishing a pop-up clinic for 3,000 COVID-19 vaccinations in her district.
The vaccines were reserved for people in two ZIP codes in affluent Lakewood Ranch during the same week the county postponed vaccinations for other seniors registered in its vaccine pool.
After coronavirus vaccines began arriving in Manatee County, a lottery system was established for eligible people to register, joining a pool awaiting random selection as doses become available.
The pop-up clinic at Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch provided vaccinations but didn’t use the county’s random lottery system.
“This has nothing to do with the county, per se,” Baugh said Feb. 16.
“This was done strictly by the governor,” she said, adding that she and developer Rex Jensen “worked on it all weekend, to get it done, and it is commencing tomorrow.”
Baugh said the National Guard and deputies from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office would be there for “crowd control.”
“This is not uncommon,” Baugh said. “The governor is doing this all over the state.”
Commissioner Misty Servia disagreed.
“You have to understand the optics are horrible,” Servia said Feb. 16. “If we were going to pick and choose who was going to be vaccinated ahead of everyone else, I would hope it would go to the underserved population.”
Baugh responded, “I’ll let the governor know you said that.”
However, at the Feb. 18 county meeting, Baugh offered a back-handed apology.
“This is not for the board,” she said. “This is for the citizens of Manatee County. I want to apologize for all of the residents that I have disappointed in any action I’ve taken, according to some news outlets.”
Baugh admitted she sent an email to county public safety director Jake Sauer with a list of names of people to be vaccinated.
“I just wish that some privacy could have been given to some of the people that was on the list,” Baugh said.
She claimed she has not been vaccinated.
“Madam chair, you are a friend and I love you, but I think you’ve made a terrible mistake here,” said County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who represents District 3, including the Anna Maria Island municipalities.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore told The Islander Feb. 19, “It was an abuse of power. And it goes against what we are here to do together, as a county.”
Coronavirus statistics
As of Feb. 19, the state had vaccinated 1,232,083 people.
As of Feb. 19, 30,763 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Manatee County since March 2020. Of those testing positive, 604 were nonresidents, compared with 574 the week prior.
As of Feb. 19, 177 people in Holmes Beach, 77 people in Bradenton Beach and 54 people in Anna Maria had tested positive for COVID-19 since March 2020 — an increase of four cases compared with the week prior.
Fatalities in the county totaled 568 — an increase of 21 deaths since Feb. 11.
How to get help
In addition to first-responders and patient-facing health care workers, full- or part-time Florida residents aged 65 and older are eligible for vaccines — by appointment only, as supply is available — from the county health department.
Vaccination location sites, including required information to join the vaccination pool, are listed at floridahealthcovid19.gov.
Additionally, people can visit vax.mymanatee.org or call 311, with operators available 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays to take information.