‘Moving in the wrong direction:’ Seminole County ramps up vaccination efforts amid uptick in cases

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Seminole County is ramping up its vaccination efforts by offering mobile clinics at its libraries throughout the week.

The county said these mobile vaccine clinics will be offering Pfizer and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday this week.

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Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said the county is adding more vaccination opportunities as they see more people interested in receiving it. Right now, he said the county is seeing 59% of eligible populations vaccinated, but officials would like to see a higher percentage.

“Individuals that have called in, inquired, said now I’m ready. I’ve seen my family member, they’re sick, I have seen someone else get COVID, I don’t want to be like that. I’ve changed my mind, where can I get the vaccine?” he said. “...We’ve seen this slight influx of individuals, we thought it would be a good time to ramp up our special events a little bit.”

Harris said the county is seeing increasing COVID-19 cases with the daily count “right at the high 200s into 300.” He said that with the way cases are increasing, “we’re moving in the wrong direction” and “we’re certainly moving closer and closer to where we were.”

The clinics will be at the following locations with no appointment required:

• Monday at Central Branch located at 215 N. Oxford Road in Casselberry. The second dose will be offered on Aug. 16
• Tuesday at East Branch located at 310 Division St. in Oviedo. The second dose will be offered on Aug. 17
• Wednesday at North Branch located at 150 N. Palmetto Ave. in Sanford. The second dose will be offered on Aug. 18
• Thursday at Northwest Branch located at 580 Green Way Blvd. in Lake Mary. The second dose will be offered on Aug. 19
• Friday at West Branch located at 245 N. Hunt Club Blvd. in Longwood. The second dose will be offered on Aug. 20

Those who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are individuals who are unvaccinated, accounting for 94% of the hospitalizations due to COVID-19, according to Harris.

“And quite a few of those, not a whole lot, but quite a few are ending up in the ICU unfortunately,” Harris said.

Several counties in Central Florida are working to get vaccines out into the community as the area and state overall is seeing an increase in cases and hospitalizations.

The last week of state COVID-19 reporting shows Florida is leading the country in new cases for the second week in a row with more than 73,000 positive cases in the last seven-day report.