In recent days, my social media has exploded with people posting about boycotting Publix due to their involvement with vaccine rollout in Florida and their donations to Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. I'm not here to defend their monetary contributions to political campaigns, and I personally think that DeSantis and Trump are both pretty despicable individuals with few redeeming qualities. However, I do think that it's important to consider a few things about the vaccine rollout specifically before boycotting Publix as a whole.
Many people are frustrated with Publix currently because of one image that has been circulating widely on social media. The photo seen below shows the counties in which Publix will be implementing vaccination rollout and also shows which candidate the county voted for in the 2020 presidential election. The map shows that a vast majority of counties where Publix is giving vaccines are red counties. In fact, the only blue county where Publix is giving vaccines is the same county where Mar a Lago is located. The conclusion that people are coming to after looking at this map is that Publix has coordinated with DeSantis to provide vaccinations only to counties that voted for Trump in 2020. I think that this conclusion is easy to reach when looking just at the map, and the trail of cash between Publix and Florida Republicans, but I'm not sure that what's going on is really all that sinister.
This image suggests that Publix is conspiring with Ron DeSantis to only vaccinate constituents in Republican-voting counties
The map below shows all major hospitals in the state of Florida. When you compare it to the map of Publix locations receiving vaccination supplies, you can see that there is very little overlap. It is my belief that instead of only choosing Publix locations in areas that voted red, the locations were chosen based off of relative access to another major health facility. If there is no major hospital near an area, it makes sense that pharmacies like Publix would need to be called on to vaccinate people due to a lack of infrastructure in public health services. It just so happens that the areas with low development and infrastructure are also the areas where the majority of Republicans live.
Now, this is not to say that the relationship between Publix and the Florida GOP is completely innocent. There are several questions about the monetary contributions Publix has made to the campaigns of Republicans, their involvement in paying for the January 6th terrorist attack on the capitol, and their selection by Ron DeSantis over another pharmacy like CVS to distribute the vaccine. Publix does not reach as many communities of color as some larger pharmacies, so it is somewhat confusing why Publix was chosen over a business that can reach a wider swath of the population assuming the goal of vaccine rollout is to vaccinate as many people as possible. However, I do think that the map indicating that Publix locations in red counties are getting vaccine shipments simply because they are in red counties is misleading and leaves out some information that paints a more complete picture about why vaccines need to be provided by pharmacies in these areas as opposed to blue counties in Florida.
In today's age it is really easy to manipulate images in order to paint a picture that is incomplete. Many people rely on images like the one of Publix locations getting vaccine shipments to shape their political views and opinions. That is dangerous because anyone can make an official looking image and share it on social media regardless of whether or not it is accurate or portrays all information about an issue in an appropriate light. This issue is not a Democrat or Republican issue, but is instead a consumer issue. Gullibility on the internet is the reason why 5-Minute Crafts is so popular online. People view videos with insane looking thumbnails that look like they just might be real, and they don't look into proving or disproving the content of the videos any further because simply viewing someone "fix" a wine stained rug by dumping lemon juice on it is satisfying enough for people to believe it is true and share it with others. This same gullibility is what allows conspiracies to spread online like the conspiracy that Publix is working with the Florida GOP to only vaccinate Republicans, or the conspiracy that Dominion voting machines were hacked to count votes for Biden twice. I think the moral of the story is that when you see something, especially an image online that lights a fire in you and makes you feel strongly about a specific topic, you should always look into the origins of that image, the specifics and accuracy of the content, and the ways it may be trying to play into your own preexisting biases or outlook in order to be spread online. Be skeptical of information that is presented to you in meme-format and don't share something online that you aren't sure is true or accurate. These simple steps can help us start to move down the path of being more aware of the media we consume, and towards healing as a nation from divisions caused by misinformation and disinformation online.
