Orange County Fire Rescue has begun vaccinating seniors living in assisted living facilities.
The county says it plans to visit at least one senior living facility each day.

“We just ask patience,” said Orange County Fire Rescue Battalion Scott Egan in a video online. “This is a large program to manage and implement. And we ask for their patience and understanding that we’re taking this one step at a time with this within the guidelines provided by the state of Florida. In this first stage, that includes our senior living centers.”

In partnership with @DOHOrange, @OCFR paramedics vaccinate those who are 65+ living in senior communities who are unable to travel to a vaccination site. The team’s goal is to vaccinate a different senior community each day. Stay updated: https://t.co/5hXVu8Gfjz. pic.twitter.com/hjIQlO9gly

— Orange County FL (@OrangeCoFL) January 19, 2021

Florida has given about 56 percent of the 2 million vaccines it has gotten from the federal government. In total, about 900,000 Floridians have gotten the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and about 100,000 have gotten both doses. But about 45,000 Floridians are overdue for their second vaccine dose.

Epidemiologists say 70 to 80 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, which is the level where transmission of a disease becomes unlikely. Overall, less than one half of one percent of Florida’s population has gotten a completed COVID-19 vaccination, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, a statewide collaborative reporting on health care.

Health reporting on WMFE is supported in part by AdventHealth.