[responsive-slider id=11659]

Editor, The Beacon:

I am more than dismayed at the Volusia County Health Department’s handling of the COVID vaccine. 

According to its website, they would be offering the Moderna vaccine Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 to Volusia County residents who are 65 or older beginning at 9 a.m. at Daytona Stadium on LPGA Boulevard.

My husband and I were eager to be a part of this since we are not only over 65, but both have medical conditions that put us gravely at risk should we contract the virus.

We downloaded the application and filled it out to bring with us, and we were in the car and on the road at 6:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. start. However to no one’s surprise, capacity for distributing the vaccine had been reached hours before, so we, along with hundreds of others, turned around and went home.

This is entirely unacceptable.

At the very least, local hospitals could have been the deliverers of the vaccine. Physicians could have referred their at-risk patients and those over 65. This would have created a more equitable, orderly and manageable distribution.

The method that Volusia County opted to use ultimately means that those who were the least at risk got the vaccine first. I believe this, having learned that folks waited in their cars overnight. No one with serious medical conditions could have done that; certainly my husband and I couldn’t have.

I have checked with both my internist and my endocrinologist, and neither is offering the vaccine, so, what are we to do?

Maria Dardano

Orange City

Editor’s note: We’re happy to report that the Health Department has switched to a reservation system for vaccine clinics. Information about upcoming clinics can be found at www.beacononlinenews.com