{"id":72921,"date":"2021-01-07T11:37:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T16:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=72921"},"modified":"2021-01-07T11:37:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T16:37:53","slug":"some-canadian-snowbirds-in-florida-are-already-getting-the-covid-19-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/canada\/some-canadian-snowbirds-in-florida-are-already-getting-the-covid-19-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Canadian snowbirds in Florida are already getting the COVID-19 vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Some
Florida is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to seniors aged 65 and older during the first phase of its vaccine rollout, unlike many other U.S. states and Canadian provinces. In Ontario, seniors not living in a care facility must wait until Phase 2 of the rollout, scheduled between April and July. (Chandan Khanna\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Snowbirds who headed to Florida this winter \u2014\u00a0despite Canada’s advisory not to travel abroad\u00a0during the pandemic \u2014\u00a0have discovered an unexpected perk: They can sign up to get the COVID-19 vaccine potentially months before it’s available to seniors in Canada.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canadian snowbird\u00a0Perry Cohen, 74, of Toronto said that he and his wife, Rose, 71, each got\u00a0the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Florida on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The couple are\u00a0spending the winter at a condo they own in Deerfield Beach, Fla. On New Year’s Day, they were invited to sign up for a vaccination clinic set up in their gated community.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

“I guess we were in the right place at the right time,” Cohen said, adding they’re both booked to get their followup dose of the vaccine in three weeks.<\/p>\n

“What a nice way to start the new year.”<\/p>\n

\"Canadian
Canadian snowbirds Rose and Perry Cohen of Toronto received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Florida on Tuesday. (Submitted by Perry Cohen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unlike many other U.S. states and Canadian provinces, Florida is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to seniors aged\u00a065 and older during the first phase of its vaccine rollout.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the state is allowing non-residents \u2014\u00a0including Canadian snowbirds \u2014\u00a0to get the shot.<\/p>\n

“Anyone that can prove they are 65 years of age and older is eligible to receive a vaccine at no cost in Florida,” the Florida Department of Health said in an email to CBC News.<\/p>\n

Despite Canada’s plea for Canadians to stay home during the pandemic, Cohen said he feels safe\u00a0living within the confines of his gated community in Florida. He also believes that if he had stayed in Toronto this winter, he would have had to wait months to get the vaccine.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

“I was figuring April\u00a0probably to July, and then\u00a0this comes along \u2014\u00a0it’s a bonus,” he said. “It fell in our lap.”<\/p>\n

Although Ontario has also started to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, seniors not living in a care facility must wait until Phase 2\u00a0of the rollout \u2014\u00a0currently scheduled between April and July<\/u>. Meanwhile, the province faces\u00a0mounting criticism<\/u>\u00a0that its vaccine program is moving at a sluggish pace.<\/p>\n

Heading to Florida for the vaccine<\/h2>\n

Florida’s vaccination program has also faced criticism. Although the state started\u00a0offering shots to seniors last month<\/u>, there have been\u00a0complaints about<\/u>\u00a0long lineups at vaccine centres and difficulties pre-booking appointments due to high demand.<\/p>\n

Snowbird Shelton Papple, 66, of Brantford, Ont., said a Canadian couple in his gated community in Fort Myers got the vaccine on Tuesday. But Papple said the region has temporarily run out of doses, so he will likely have to wait until next week, when supplies are replenished, to try to score an appointment.<\/p>\n

“I’m going to get it,” a determined Papple said. “I can see the carrot on the end of the stick.”<\/p>\n

\"Travel
Travel insurance broker Martin Firestone said he doesn’t recommended flying to Florida just to get the COVID-19 vaccine due to the risks of travelling during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Submitted by Martin Firestone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto-based travel insurance broker Martin Firestone, who caters to snowbirds, said about 50 of his clients who travelled to Florida this winter have either already received\u00a0their first dose of the vaccine\u00a0or have an appointment booked.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

“They’re excited,” said Firestone, president of Travel Secure Inc. “Their attitude is, ‘I will probably be waiting till summer at the earliest'”\u00a0in Canada.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that\u00a0he was troubled by the slow pace<\/u> of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout and vowed to address the problem.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Several countries have outpaced Canada’s vaccination efforts, including the United States. Although the U.S. has rolled out its program\u00a0more slowly than anticipated<\/u>, the country has still\u00a0vaccinated close to four times more people per capita<\/u>\u00a0than Canada has.<\/p>\n

So it may come as no surprise, Firestone said, that about 30 of his snowbird\u00a0clients who previously decided not to travel\u00a0Florida this year due to the pandemic are now considering going, for the sole purpose of getting inoculated.<\/p>\n

“It’s the craziest reason to head down to another country,” he said.<\/p>\n

Firestone said he doesn’t recommend travelling abroad right now \u2014\u00a0even to get the vaccine \u2014 because travelling during a pandemic carries risks.<\/p>\n

He said that even if a traveller has adequate medical insurance, they could still face problems if they have an\u00a0ailment and\u00a0hospitals are overrun with COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 infections and related deaths\u00a0continue to soar<\/u>\u00a0in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also doesn’t recommend visitors coming to Florida to get\u00a0the vaccine.<\/p>\n

“Someone just showing up and saying, ‘Give me a shot’ and then they’re going to fly back somewhere\u00a0\u2014\u00a0we obviously are not going to do that,” he said\u00a0at a news conference<\/u>\u00a0in Miami-Dade County on Monday.<\/p>\n

“But for seasonal residents who are going to be here, I think it’s totally fine.”<\/p>\n

Canadian snowbirds\u00a0in Arizona may also be able to snag the vaccine during their stay.<\/p>\n

“Winter visitors can be vaccinated at no cost in Arizona,” Holly Poynter, a spokesperson for Arizona’s\u00a0Department of Health Services, said in an email.<\/p>\n

She said the state is set to start vaccinating seniors who are 75 and older by mid to late January\u00a0and those between the ages of 65 and 74 by the end of February or early March.<\/p>\n

CBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snowbirds who headed to Florida this winter \u2014\u00a0despite Canada’s advisory not to travel abroad\u00a0during the pandemic \u2014\u00a0have discovered an unexpected perk: They can sign up to get the COVID-19 vaccine potentially months before it’s available to seniors in Canada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":72923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3539,17411],"tags":[18866,16193,5667],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Some-Canadian-snowbirds-in-Florida-are-already-getting-the-COVID-19-vaccine-Milenio-Stadium-Canada.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}