Florida county commissioner limited vaccine drive to the two richest zip codes and then created a 'VIP list'. (CNN)

 I knew from experience that Dull Republican politicians in Flor=-DUH would find a way to jump their rich friends to the front of the line.  Still waiting for investigations of lawbreaking involving COVID-19 vaccinations.

Florida county commissioner limited vaccine drive to the two richest zip codes and then created a 'VIP list'

By Paul P. Murphy, Rosa Flores, Konstantin Toropin and Sara Weisfeldt, CNN

Updated 5:57 PM ET, Thu February 18, 2021 

(CNN)A Manatee County, Florida, commissioner broke protocol for equitable vaccine distribution, which she had previously voted in favor of, when planning a vaccine drive initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Vanessa Baugh admitted on Thursday that she "wanted to make sure certain people were on the list" for vaccination after emails revealed that she directed county officials to create a list to let her and others jump the line. In response to criticism that county officials had only permitted residents from the two richest zip codes in the county to get vaccinated at the event, Baugh further admitted that she picked the zip codes herself.

In a public county commissioner meeting on Thursday, Baugh apologized for the criticism regarding the "pop-up" vaccination site, but said that if presented with the opportunity again, "I will do exactly what I did this time." Baugh further explained that she "did exactly what (DeSantis) wanted" in organizing the vaccine drive.

On Tuesday, in another public county commissioner meeting, Baugh said that the vaccine drive was initiated by DeSantis, a Republican, and involved real estate developer Rex Jensen. A news release on the Manatee County website says it aimed to vaccinate 3,000 people over three days. 

One of the emails obtained by CNN through a public records request states that Baugh asked county workers to pull a list of potential vaccine recipients from only two zip codes, who would then participate in the state-sponsored vaccine drive.

"Commissioner Baugh has asked we pull a list of those in the vaccine waiting pool that have listed 34202 and 34211 as their residence," Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob Saur wrote on February 12.