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Vaccine hesitancy fueling rapid increase COVID-19 cases, health experts say
In Florida, only 47% of the population is now fully vaccinated, and 20% of the recent cases in the United States are in Florida. Author: Ken Amaro Updated: 5:43 PM EDT July 19, 2021
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. At James Weldon Park, between the food trucks and the lunch crowd, First Coast News found 18-year-old Rock Johnson.
Johnson fits the profile of the population that is not vaccinated, and when asked, Johnson said he is not. I would not suggest it to my family, said Johnson.
Johnson has vaccine hesitancy and is among the population that most worry health care workers.
During the afternoon press conference, local health care workers and residents of The Villages, a growing retirement community of 130,000-plus seniors, received the first of two parts of the Pfizer vaccine.
DeSantis did not provide an exact timeline for when the vaccines will be widely available to seniors. But as more vaccines pour into the state, the governor said they would be available in the very near future.
“While we will be releasing additional plans very soon,” he said, “we will have some community vaccination sites available for older individuals, (and we will be) working in conjunction with our hospital systems to be able to deliver as many vaccines as possible to those who want the vaccines, particularly in the elderly demographic.”