Pop-Up Clinic Caters To Wealthy, Politician’s Friends: Report

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — When Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh helped organize a state-run pop-up coronavirus vaccination clinic in Lakewood Ranch, she also added herself and several others to the list of 3,000 people to receive the vaccine, the Bradenton Herald reported.

The exclusive clinic, held Wednesday through Friday this week at Premier Sports Campus by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, targets only those living in two of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the county – 34211 and 34202 – reports said. Baugh handpicked the zip codes, which fall within District 5, which she represents.

She also directed Jacob Sauer, the county’s public safety director, to add five people to the list of those receiving vaccine appointments during the three-day event. In addition to herself, this list included Lakewood Ranch president and CEO Rex Jensen and his father, Lawrence Jensen, as well as her former neighbors, Robert and Marie Keehn, the Bradenton Herald learned through a public records request.

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In an emailed statement, Baugh told the newspaper that she hasn’t been vaccinated and hasn’t set a vaccine appointment at the Lakewood Ranch clinic. She also told the Bradenton Herald that she added the Keehns to the list because she didn’t see their names in the county’s vaccine standby pool.

Typically, at vaccine clinics in Manatee County, names are randomly chosen through the county’s vaccine lottery.

Patch contacted Vanessa Baugh for additional comment but has not received a response.