Orange County leaders and health officials launched a new campaign on Wednesday to combat vaccine hesitancy called the “I got my shot” campaign.
“The campaign will debunk vaccine myths, highlight trusted voices in the community and encourage residents to get vaccinated and become advocates for their friends and family,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.
Mayor Demings said the county had been doing its own research on vaccine hesitancy hosting 250 interviews through focus groups within the community, some of who said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to getting vaccinated.
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“From our research the two biggest concerns from our wait and see attitude, they are concerned about access and availability and the misconception that the shot gives you [COVID-19], nothing can be further than the truth,” he added.
The launch of the campaign comes one day after FDA paused the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine after 6 cases of rare blood clots occurred in the more than 6.8 million doses administered.
“The timing could not be any better to have this campaign with the recent developments, we didn’t plan for it,” Dr. Pino said. “It’s also timely in the sense we are changing our strategy on how we are going to move vaccinations in our county.”
That change in strategy includes a new $80,000 mobile unit paid for by CARES Act money that will be used to begin vaccinating residents in neighborhoods where vaccination rates are low. The goal, according to Dr. Raul Pino with the Department of Health in Orange County was to use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for a one-and-done approach to those hard-to-reach neighborhoods.
“We would prefer to use Johnson and Johnson,” Dr. Pino said. “The idea is to go and have Johnson and Johnson [and] vaccinate people right at their homes. If the hesitation continues to be there and we cannot convince people to do this, we will other vaccines to offer as well.”
The single mobile unit unveiled Tuesday can offer up to 300 shots per day, officials said. However, the Department of Health in Orange County is not saying what neighborhoods they will go to, or what neighborhoods have low vaccination rates. News 6 has also put in a records request for vaccination data via zip code with the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee with no response.