SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly half of the entire senior population in Seminole County has been vaccinated, according to Emergency Manager Alan Harris.
Harris said that as of Tuesday, 47% of Seminole County’s seniors have been vaccinated. Data from the Florida Department of Health shows that’s about 33,574 seniors.
“We are really happy that we are about to get to 50%,” Harris said Tuesday. “I think we’ve been able to do this because our fixed site but also because of the mobile sites getting out to senior communities and into neighborhoods where seniors live.”
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Seminole County is leading the way in Central Florida, according to data from the Department of Health. Lake County is not far behind, with 43% of its seniors vaccinated, followed by Flagler and Orange counties, with 40% vaccinated.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he’s been using that measure to decide where to allocate more vaccines. Harris hopes it doesn’t impact the allotment coming into Seminole County.
“I know they have been targeting and moving additional vaccine pods to those communities that haven’t done so well, but we hope that won’t affect our allotments and that we will continue to get the same amount or more so we can help our community,” Harris said.
However, demand seems to be decreasing in Seminole County, where, just a few weeks ago, new appointments available at 10 a.m. would be quickly booked. Today, as of 5 p.m., many appointments were still available.
“We are certainly hoping that us making good progress will show the governor that we can move into the next priority group and that will be individuals, immune-compromised people scared of the virus or people under 65,” Harris added.
It will be up to the governor to decide when and if demand is low enough to begin vaccinating a new sub-group of the population. However, he has said he wants to get all 4.4 million seniors in the state vaccinated first. As of Tuesday, 39% of seniors have been vaccinated statewide.
Here are the percentages of the senior populations vaccinated in each Central Florida county:
- SEMINOLE COUNTY -- 47%
- LAKE COUNTY -- 43%
- FLAGLER COUNTY -- 40%
- ORANGE COUNTY -- 40%
- BREVARD COUNTY -- 38%
- VOLUSIA COUNTY -- 38%
- OSCEOLA COUNTY -- 37%
- SUMTER COUNTY -- 34%
- MARION COUNTY -- 31%
- POLK COUNTY -- 29%
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