STATEWIDE — As of Monday, more than 1 million people are now vaccinated in the state of Florida, including a Central Florida infectious-disease expert who shares his experience of getting the COVID vaccine.
What You Need To Know
- Gov. DeSantis continues to prioritize health care workers, seniors
- Dr. Sajid Chaudhary shares his experience after getting a second dose
- RELATED: Pharmacies Hiring More Workers To Keep Up With COVID Vaccine Demand
- Get the detailed numbers of Florida’s coronavirus vaccinations here
Over half of the people vaccinated in our state so far are seniors, according to information provided by Florida’s Department of Health.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing to prioritize health care workers and seniors, but as the vaccine rollout continues, that means more work for Florida pharmacies.
Publix pharmacies are already vaccinating Central Floridians in Volusia, Flagler and Marion counties.
CVS is looking to hire short term and long term employees to meet vaccination needs, once they are available.
Walgreens is planning to hire about 25,000 people.
Smaller pharmacies are also thinking about how to handle the task ahead.
"We do have a backup pharmacist as our floater pharmacist that we can call on, if it turns out we had a lot of vaccines that came in, because we don't know how much vaccine we're getting," Kevin Shukla with Pinellas Park Pharmacy said.
The Orange County Convention Center is not doing vaccinations Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but testing is running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Department of Health data shows more than 60,000 people have received vaccines so far across Orange County while more than 43,000 people in Pinellas County have been vaccinated.
But, Florida Department of Health data shows not everyone is getting both doses in the recommended time frame.
Infectious-disease expert Dr. Sajid Chaudhary's home-away-from-home is on the frontlines of the pandemic at AdventHealth Kissimmee.
As of January 6, he is now fully vaccinated.
"First dose, I did not feel anything at all actually. The second dose, most of the people were feeling it, I did also, body aches, chills, low-grade fever, headache," he said.
He said those mild symptoms after the booster dose only lasted for about 12 to 24 hours.
Florida Department of Health data shows of the more than 1 million people in Florida who are vaccinated, more than 40,000 are "overdue," which means they have passed the recommended timeframe to receive their second dose.
It has 21 days between shots for the Pfizer vaccine and 28 days for Moderna.
Chaudhary is not surprised because of the reluctance of some in the community, even from doctors, when the vaccines first came out.
But, the second dose is critical because it brings your immunity level higher.
"Booster dose is very important because it takes you beyond 90 percent. So, if someone is partially vaccinated, there's still a chance they can get the infection," he said.