MIAMI — Florida's Cuban veterans of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion are getting their vaccinations against the novel coronavirus starting Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced from Miami Monday morning.
DeSantis announced the vaccine rollout for those veterans from the Bay of Pigs Museum and Library at 10 a.m. He was joined by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez.
At the announcement, DeSantis touted his "Seniors First" approach to distributing COVID-19 vaccines across the state of Florida and highlighted some of the achievements of the veterans included in Monday's rollout.
"The fight against communism was, and still is, a noble cause," DeSantis said. "When Cuba fell to communism in 1959, too few were willing to recognize what this meant -- the destruction of a once-proud island nation. Members of Brigade 2506, though, refused to stand idly by and allow their country to be imprisoned by a communist dictator."
DeSantis said vaccinating the state's vulnerable population first is an evidence-based approach to reduce the number of people going into hospitals. But, he said, it's also a matter of respect.
"Two weeks ago, I was able to witness a vaccine for a World War II veteran who was 100 years old," DeSantis said. "He had done a lot in his life, and we very much appreciate it. Last year, to initiate our homebound seniors program for vaccination, I was able to go to the condo of a Holocaust survivor who's 85 years old. And so today, we are expanding the homebound seniors program."
DeSantis said the brigade reached out to his administration to ask about expanding those homebound services to Bay of Pigs veterans, which will allow them to visit the homes of those veterans in order to vaccinate them.
Three Brigade 2506 veterans were given their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during Monday's announcement. All three were captured by Fidel Castro's forces and spent 20 months as POWs before their negotiated release in December of 1962, DeSantis said.
Other Bay of Pigs veterans and their spouses will receive the vaccines in the comfort of their own homes, DeSantis said.
The state is also going to be committing 200 vaccines per day for seniors seven days a week in underserved neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County, the governor said.
You can watch the full news conference below.