ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – As a push to get more people vaccinated, a group of University of Central Florida students are encouraging their peers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m fully vaccinated. Pfizer gang,” UCF junior LeeAnn Figueroa said.
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Figueroa said she wants her peers on campus to know that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and she believes more younger people should get the shot, too.
“If people want to return to the way we used to be, then this is the way to do it,” she said.
This comes as UCF leaders said about 6,000 students were given both doses of the Pfizer vaccine free of charge at their main campus in April.
“I understand the hesitation, but it’s time for us to take control of our lives and to not live our lives in fear,” UCF senior Tania Sims said.
That group of UCF students became even closer last summer during protests in Oviedo and across Central Florida after the murder of George Floyd.
“My friends and I really were just distraught and upset about it,” Sims said.
“It just made me feel very disgusted,” Figueroa said.
They took action by hosting and taking part in local protests through an organization they created called Ready Set Reform. The organization encourages their peers not to stand for racial inequality and to speak up for what’s right.
They’re using that platform once again to encourage their peers to get the COVID-19 shot.
“Bring a friend, a cousin, post about it. Get a vaccine, let’s go back to normal,” Sims said
You can read more about Ready, Set, Reform here.