ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – First responders and seniors who’ve already received their first shot of the coronavirus vaccine will be returning to the Orange County Convention this week to get their booster shot, which offers even more immunity.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who is fully vaccinated himself, said first responders got their second dose Monday and those efforts will begin for senior citizens on Tuesday.
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So far, Dr. Raul Pino from the Florida Department of Health in Orange County said supply has remained adequate and officials have not found themselves in a position where they were completely out of doses.
“So weekly we get what we are putting out weekly, but also this vaccine, especially Pfizer, has a lot of regulations on temperature, how long you have to defrost it, how long you can keep it out so you have to have a rolling inventory of the vaccine,” Pino said.
He didn’t express concern about running out of doses, like leaders in Seminole County have, but he did address the possibility of mixing vaccines, meaning someone could get the Moderna vaccine for their first dose and Pfizer for their second dose or vice versa.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said that could be acceptable in limited circumstances, Pino hopes it doesn’t come to that.
“We are not expecting to have to switch between vaccines but it could be that one day we have not received a shipment, we have something else in the storage, and we will use it if the people agree to take it that day. Of course people will have the choice of taking it or not,” Pino said.
He said it’s “not unsafe” to interchange the vaccines.
Pino also reiterated that it’s fine to wait beyond the 21 or 28 days for a booster shot and there’s no need to start the process over if the appointment is made longer than one month apart.
About 4.8% of Orange County’s residents have received at least one dose, which isn’t enough to have any kind of affect on the daily coronavirus numbers, according to Pino.
Even though the county has recently seen some improvements in case totals, hospitalizations and the recovery rate, that’s not due to the vaccine.
“The vaccine right now is not making a difference at the larger level, the population level. It’s going to make a difference first for the people who are receiving and those who are 65 years old and out of those, we have more than 200,000 residents, and we only have done, 71,000 of those vaccines,” Pino said. “So it’s very early for the vaccine to have any implications in the whole pandemic. It will and it will have an impact but later on when we have the largest number of vaccinated.”
Pino once again stressed the importance of wearing masks, social distancing and taking other pandemic precautions, even for people like himself who have already received their booster shot.
For those heading to the convention site in the near future, Demings offered a few words of advice: eat before you arrive, take any needed medications beforehand, make sure you have a full tank of gas and arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment.
Portable restrooms have since been added for those waiting in line as well.
About 2,500 residents are vaccinated at the Orange County Convention Center each day. For information on how to make an appointment, click here.