Health officials urge seniors to show up for second-dose vaccine appointments
Briona Arradondo reports
TAMPA, Fla. - It’s time now for seniors who got their COVID-19 vaccine early last month to line up for their second shot, and thousands of doses made it into arms over the weekend in Tampa Bay.
More seniors in Hillsborough County are fully protected against COVID-19. Emergency management coordinator Jay Rajyaguru with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue shared Monday how they finished the first week of second doses. We had the vast majority of our residents who showed up for the first dose come back for their second dose. We did about 8,500 second doses last week, said Rajyaguru. I know in other parts of the state and the country we’ve seen some numbers of people not showing up. In Hillsborough County, we’ve seen the vast majority of people showing up for their second dose, and so we want to continue that as much as we can.
There have been several reports of scammers targeting seniors, offering to schedule them for a vaccine but requiring personal information and a fee. Now, state lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill to make these kinds of scams a third-degree felony.
Slots are now full for the first rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations for seniors in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, with a combined 12,000 doses expected to be administered.