Bill and David S. Mack 'arranged for their rich NYC friends to get the COVID vaccine in Florida'
Real estate moguls Bill and David S. Mack are said to have arranged a list of their rich friends to receive COVID-19 vaccines at a Florida retirement home chaired by David.
Some of those getting the jab had reportedly flown down on private jets from Manhattan after their shot was arranged by the millionaire brothers at the Joseph L. Morse Health Center in Palm Beach.
Others who received the jab are said to be members of the exclusive Palm Beach Country Club, where it costs at least $100,000 to join.
Their alleged exclusive list comes as other elderly people in the state are forced to camp overnight for a chance to get the life-saving vaccine.
A source told Page Six: ‘David and Bill Mack arranged for their friends from the Palm Beach Country Club to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
‘They apparently made a list of people who could get the vaccine, who one can only assume are their wealthy friends and clients.
‘Supposedly, some people flew down in private jets from New York just for the vaccine, if they were lucky enough to be on the list the brothers made.’
Others said friends asked ‘Do you know Bill Mack?’ in discussions about the jab.
Real estate moguls Bill, right, and David S. Mack, left, are said to have arranged a list of their rich friends to receive vaccines at a Florida retirement home chaired by David
Some of those who received the jab are said to be members of the exclusive Palm Beach Country Club, pictured, where is costs at least $100,000 to join
Tom, 69, and Judy Barrett, 67, wait in line in the early morning hours at Lakes Park Regional Library to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Fort Myers, Florida December 30
DailyMail.com has contacted a spokesperson for the Mack brothers, the Joseph L. Morse Health Center and the Palm Beach Country Club for comment.
Joseph L. Morse Health Center has 310 beds and describes itself as ‘five-star senior living’ combining an ‘atmosphere of luxury’ and ‘compassionate care’.
They provide a range of services from hospice to short-term rehab.
In Florida anyone over the age of 65 is eligible for the vaccination.
As of Monday, more than 260,000 Floridians had been vaccinated, most of them health care workers and first responders — although an increasing number are seniors 65 years and older, whom the governor has made a key demographic for vaccinations.
Cape Coral residents wait in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine last Wednesday morning
Hundreds of people wait in line Tuesday, December 29, 2020, at the STARS Complex in Fort Myers, Fla., to receive the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
Seniors and first responders wait in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the Lakes Regional Library on December 30, 2020 in Fort Myers, Florida. There were 800 doses of vaccine available at the site
People wait in a line on New Year’s Eve to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at a site for seniors in an unoccupied store at the Oviedo Mall in Florida
Websites for vaccine appointments in the state have also been crashing and facilities have filled up so fast, they pose a risk of infection spread. People wait in line for the vaccination
In Lee County, senior citizens last week waited outside all night in lawn chairs for the chance to get their first shot. The line was so long the site hit capacity hours before the shots were even given out.
Websites for vaccine appointments in the state have also been crashing and facilities have filled up so fast, they pose a risk of infection spread.
Local reporters have shared horrific stories of seniors having to endure long lines in an attempt to get access to the vaccine.
Rebecca Jarvis, an ABC News Business correspondent, shared on Twitter that her parents and other elderly people in SW Florida were experiencing a ‘disgrace’ of a vaccine rollout.
‘In Lee County Florida, where vaccines started as first come/first served for seniors Monday, hundreds of people in 70s & 80s slept in lawn chairs, lined up outside vaccine sites,’ she said in the two-day thread that started on Tuesday.
The millionaire brothers reportedly had friends flown down on private jets from Manhattan for the jab at Joseph L. Morse Health Center, pictured, in Palm Beach
Jarvis shared that one family friend, a woman in her 80s, described her vaccine site as a ‘superspreader’ event because so many people were crammed together – with many not wearing masks. The woman had been waiting since 4.30am that morning while others had been waiting overnight.
‘After hours of waiting, she left because she felt her risk of getting COVID there was higher than yet chances of getting vaccinated,’ Jarvis added.
She continued: ‘Seniors are being told to show up at Lee County vaccination sites with warm clothes, blankets, water and their medications given how long the wait times will be.
A Mack spokesman confirmed they have been helping administer the jab, adding: ‘David and Bill Mack were asked to assist a not-for-profit healthcare institution with the organization of its vaccination campaign.’ But the rep insisted while ‘some’ of
those getting the jab ‘ may have been Palm Beach Country Club members’ it was ‘not a targeted effort to vaccinate club members’. David is left, Bill is right
A Mack spokesman confirmed they have been helping administer the jab, adding: ‘David and Bill Mack were asked to assist a not-for-profit healthcare institution with the organization of its vaccination campaign.’
But the rep insisted while ‘some’ of those getting the jab ‘may have been Palm Beach Country Club members’ it was ‘not a targeted effort to vaccinate club members’.
They added: ‘Everything was done in accordance with Governor DeSantis’s order as it relates to persons 65 and older.’
Page Six notes that there is no suggestion that the Joseph L. Morse Health Center did not vaccinate those living there or that others were turned away because of the Macks’ alleged list.
Florida has one of the nation’s oldest populations with 4.4 million of the state’s 21 million people 65 years or older. About 83% of those who have died from the disease in Florida have been older than 65.
On Monday, the state Department of Health added more than 11,200 new confirmed coronavirus cases to its tally, bringing the state’s total to nearly 1.4 million. With more 100 new deaths, the state’s death toll surpassed 22,000.
