White House Claims About FL Vaccine Use ‘Disingenuous’: DeSantis

FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis has been vocal about wanting to receive more coronavirus vaccine doses to meet the demand in Florida.

But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the state has only used about half the vaccine supply it’s received from the federal government, WPTV reported.

"I will note, because we're data first, facts first here, they've only distributed about 50 percent of the vaccines that they have been given in Florida," Psaki reportedly said at a press conference. "So clearly, they have a good deal of the vaccine. That supply will need to continue to increase as they are able to effectively reach people across the state."

DeSantis called this claim “disingenuous” at a press conference at a Vero Beach Publix Tuesday morning, according to WESH. Any doses the state is holding onto are designated for seniors who have received their first dose and are awaiting a second shot, he reportedly said.

“If the White House is suggesting that we shouldn’t be doing that, I don’t think that’s a good suggestion,” he said according to WESH.

At a Monday press conference in Jacksonville, he said Florida has received about 1.7 million first doses of the coronavirus vaccine. He added that 1,224,188 people in the state have been vaccinated, WPTV reported.

"When you look at it from the perspective of the first doses, we've done a very high percentage of them, and we continue to go even higher," DeSantis said.

The state Department of Health reported about 9,500 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, bringing Florida’s total to 1,667,763 according to state data. Florida has also reached nearly 26,000 COVID-19 deaths and nearly 71,000 hospitalizations.