Florida’s home healthcare workers are among the frontline workers covered under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) executive order granting access to the COVID-19 vaccine. However, only a few have had success getting access to vaccination appointments, Kyle Simon, director of government affairs and communications for the Home Care Association of Florida, told a local news outlet.
There are more than 80,000 home healthcare workers in Florida, according to Simon. But it’s unclear how many have been vaccinated.
“The vast majority of [home care] agencies that we’re hearing from throughout the state are saying that just a small portion of their workforce have actually gotten the vaccine,” Simon stated.
“I’m on a waitl ist in several different counties,” Patrice Gagnon, a private duty nurse who cares for some of South Florida’s most vulnerable homebound seniors, told a West Palm Beach NBC affiliate.
Gagnon said she worries about catching COVID-19. “It really hurts my heart to think that I could be harming the very people that I take care of, and it’s simply because we got left out; this group of medical people got left out.”
