DeSantis Fires Back At White House Over State Vaccine Numbers

Tallahassee, FL - Governor Ron DeSantis is firing back at President Joe Biden’s administration after a comment was made regarding Florida’s vaccine numbers. During a press conference on Monday (January 25th), White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about a comment made by DeSantis that blasted President Biden’s COVID-19 plan. Psaki responded to the comment saying that Biden doesn’t necessarily have a reaction, other than he wants to ensure that the vaccine is distributed to people in the country, including those in Florida. Psaki then went on to discuss Florida’s vaccination efforts, saying that the state has only distributed about half of the vaccines they’ve received. "And I will note—because we’re data first here, fact first here—they’ve only distributed about 50 percent of the vaccines that they have been given in Florida," said Psaki. "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." According to DeSantis, that’s not true. In a statement released on Tuesday (January 26th), DeSantis called Psaki’s "insinuation" about Florida’s vaccine numbers disingenuous. However, a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says otherwise. According to data from the CDC, Florida has only administered 1,575,490 of the 3,095,350 vaccines distributed in the state—almost 51 percent. As of Tuesday afternoon, the state of Florida reported almost 10,000 new cases of COVID-19, putting the state’s total count about 1.667 million. Resident deaths also rose to 25,673.