Photo: Boston Globe
A group of 75 doctors from South Florida spoke out about the high number of unvaccinated patients they are treating. According to a report on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the doctors, who work at various hospitals in Palm Beach County are frustrated as the number of coronavirus cases continues to skyrocket around the country, leaving many hospitals at or near capacity.
The press conference was originally described as a walkout, but MSNBC later clarified that the doctors did not walk off the job and were instead discussing the issue of unvaccinated patients on their own time.
The doctors urged people to get vaccinated and said they are safe and can help prevent people from ending up in the hospital.
"It's incredibly frustrating because we know vaccines are safe and effective," Dr. JT Snarksi told MSNBC's Kerry Sanders. "And it's people who go out and talk against them that really go against physicians and medicine and science."
"It's not the message we want to get across to people. Vaccines are safe, and we need to get our communities vaccinated," she added.
Florida, which has fully vaccinated over 51% of its population, leads the U.S. with an average of more than 23,000 new cases per day and an average of over 17,000 daily COVID hospitalizations.
Despite the high number of cases, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has refused to put a statewide mask mandate in place and signed an executive order banning local officials from enacting their own mask mandates.