Second doses being administered at exclusive Lakewood Ranch COVID-19 vaccine site
Residents didn’t have to wait long at the Premier Sports Complex in Lakewood Ranch on Wednesday for their second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The site, which has been the center of a criminal investigation and an ethics complaint, was opened for another three-day event to provide second doses of the Moderna vaccine.
The site has drawn backlash for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh for how it was organized. DeSantis reached out to local developers Pat Neal and Rex Jensen to set-up the exclusive site. Baugh was asked to assist in organizing the Feb. 17-19 event and helped lead the effort to allow only residents from two of the county’s wealthiest zip codes, 34202 and 34211, to get shots there.
Those involved, including Baugh, bypassed the county’s random vaccine pool and instead directed county staff to pull only residents from those two zip codes, both of which are in Baugh’s district.
Baugh is now under investigation by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Also, a complaint has been filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics alleging Baugh misused her public position in organizing the event and creating a VIP list to ensure she, Jensen and others were included in the list of those to be vaccinated.
Depending on the outcomes of the investigations, Baugh faces possible criminal charges, fines and removal from office.
The negativity surrounding the site has made healthcare workers not want to be associated with the event, according to Nick Pachota, team commander with Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition. Pachota has been contracted to be the incident commander for Region 6, which includes Manatee County, under the joint command of Florida Division of Emergency Management and Florida Department of Health.
“This site specifically, a lot of our nurses didn’t want to come back,” Pachota, said. “We had a lot of our teams requesting not to return.”
Pachota could not say if concern about negative publicity was why the Bradenton Herald’s access to the site was initially restricted on Wednesday.
The site is expected to administer second doses to 3,095 people who received their first doses at the event, according to numbers provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management to the Bradenton Herald.
Many residents on Wednesday were just happy to be fully inoculated.
Gino Ferrante, 71, and his wife June, 73, were among those who got their second doses of the vaccine on Wednesday.
“Finally. Finally, we have been waiting for three months,” June Ferrante said.
The couple split their year evenly between Lakewood Ranch and Princeton, N. J. The last year has been terrible, Gino Ferrante said.
Now that they are fully vaccinated, Gino Ferrante said he was looking forward to “going to the bars and get drunk.”
“I am going to get started soon,” he added.
The couple were happy with the ease with which they got through the line on Wednesday morning.
“It was very organized,” they both said. The friendliness of staff put June Ferrante at ease, she added.
Those who came out to Premier Sports Complex on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, were provided their second appointment information back when they were given their initial appointment. Those getting vaccinated need to show their CDC vaccination cards for verification.
Eleven residents from Cypress Springs Retirement Community took a ride together on the community’s small bus to get vaccinated on Wednesday. Dressed in green and delivering bundles of green cookies, the group was celebrating getting their second doses on St. Patrick’s Day in hopes of having gatherings soon.
“In April, our dinning room can reopen. So, I think we will be back to normal then,” said Linda Britt-Smith, Cypress Springs activity coordinator who joined the bus full of residents to the vaccine site.
Kay Oberstar, 100, was among those who got her second dose.
“My brother used to always say age is just a number. What counts is how you feel,” Oberstar said and then added smiling, “I feel real good.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 4:25 PM.
