FORT PIERCE, Fla. – “Well, you can get the vaccine,” said Governor Ron DeSantis Thursday in response to a Contact 5 investigation into which home health workers encountered roadblocks trying to catch the COVID Access 19 vaccine.
ON Contact 5 report found Despite being classified as eligible for the vaccine in the governor’s executive order, home health workers are struggling to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In a recent interview, Kyle Simon, director of government affairs and communications for the Florida Home Care Association, said “home health workers are in the blind spot” when it comes to vaccine adoption.
“The vast majority of the authorities we hear about across the state say that only a small fraction of their workforce actually received the vaccine,” Simon told Contact 5.
Contact 5 attended a press conference at Fort Pierce Thursday afternoon to ask DeSantis about the latest investigation.
Contact 5 catches up with Governor Ron DeSantis for responses on home health workers
“You are entitled to people who are in contact with such patients, so we just got someone here and we’re glad we can accommodate that,” said DeSantis. “It is important.”
Reach out to 5 profiled Patrice Gagnon, a home health worker and nurse who couldn’t get the vaccine despite waiting lists in two counties.
“When I’ve taken all of that away from them, it’s just a terrible feeling to live with every single day,” Gagnon said in a recent interview.
When asked what domestic workers should do if they cannot be vaccinated, DeSantis said, “You can get vaccinated.”
“If you go, the hospital sites, the community sites, they are eligible under this ordinance, and they should follow up just like the seniors,” DeSantis told Contact 5. “Absolutely, the frontline health workers are eligible.” . “
Meanwhile, domestic workers like Gagnon continue to feel overlooked.
“If I had worked in a hospital or long-term care facility, I would have been vaccinated by now,” Gagnon previously told Contact 5.
