CBS 60 Minutes released an extremely deceptive, if not outright fake, hit piece on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The 60 Minutes segment is about the controversy surrounding the rollout of the vaccine in Florida. The grocery chain Publix is at the center of this “controversy” because they gave around $100,000 to DeSantis’s campaign and they were selected to be vaccine distribution centers. One town that is majority-minority, and probably mostly black called Belle Glade, is 25 miles from the nearest Publix. So the general narrative here is that DeSantis favored white and wealthy seniors while excluding minorities, especially black Americans.
A key piece of evidence used to defend their general claim is from a press gaggle of sorts near Orlando where a 60 Minutes reporter asked DeSantis a few questions. DeSantis responded to the aforementioned allegations very well, but 60 Minutes did not play his words in full during their show. If 60 Minutes would have allowed DeSantis’s full comments to play instead of deceptively editing them, then the “controversy” would have been dissolved almost immediately.
The reality here is that Florida Governor DeSantis first gave Walgreens and CVS the rights to distribute the vaccine back in December when the first supplies were approved and available. And their task was to distribute them to long-term care centers due to the fact that senior citizens are most at risk from catching the virus. In Belle Glade, the majority-minority town 25 miles away from the nearest Publix, there is a CVS and a Walgreens directly across the street from one another. Publix did not come into the picture until after Walgreens and CVS already had access to the vaccine. And the reason why Publix was chosen was to expand the reach of the vaccine and because 90% of seniors in Palm Beach County (where Belle Glade is located) are within 1.5 miles of a Publix.
Choosing Publix to further distribute the vaccine has nothing to do with their campaign donations to Ron DeSantis. If that is the case, then why did they donate 5x more money to DeSantis’s GOP Primary opponent, Adam Putnam? It seems strange for DeSantis to “reward” a company for giving less money to his campaign than his competitor’s. The Palm Beach County Mayor, a Democrat by the name of Dave Kerner, supports Ron DeSantis’s recollection of events and says that “60 Minutes” should be ashamed of themselves for the ridiculous hit piece they put out.
SOURCE:
How the wealthy cut the line during Florida’s COVID vaccine rollout – 60 Minutes – CBS News
Democratic Florida mayor defends DeSantis: ’60 Minutes should be ashamed’ | Fox News
Publix donates heavily to Adam Putnam’s run for governor | Miami Herald
60 Minutes — Ron DeSantis’s Publix Vaccinations Answer Edited | National Review
