Rural counties continue to lag behind state in vaccine distribution

Posted 3/19/21

Florida’s vaccination program continues to expand to more people, but the vaccine distribution in the rural counties continues to lag behind the urban areas and below the state average.

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Rural counties continue to lag behind state in vaccine distribution

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Florida’s vaccination program continues to expand to more people, but the vaccine distribution in the rural counties continues to lag behind the urban areas and below the state average.

Some local officials say the problem is with the state’s distribution of the vaccine. For example, rural Okeechobee County has received about 500 first doses of vaccine each week which have been administered in drive-thru pods at the Okeechobee Agri-Civic Center. Mitch Smeykal of the Okeechobee Emergency Operations Center said they could easily ramp up distribution to double that amount in one day or add additional vaccination pod days if they had the vaccine.

According to the March 18, DOH report, 4,570,538 people have been vaccinated in Florida, with 74.1% of those over age 65 vaccinated and about 21.1% of the total population vaccinated.

As of the March 19 DOH report, consider the vaccination numbers in rural interior counties:

• Glades County vaccinated 1,706 persons, with 38% of county residents over age 65 vaccinated and 12.3% of the county population vaccinated.

• Hendry County vaccinated 5,068 person with 60% of those over age 65 vaccinated and 12% of the county’s population vaccinated.

• Okeechobee County vaccinated 6,417 persons, with 60.6% of those over age 65 vaccinated and 15.2% of the county’s population vaccinated.

Compare that to the numbers from the coastal counties:

• Martin County vaccinated 45,846 persons, with 73% of those over age 65 vaccinated and 28.4% of the county’s population vaccinated.

• Collier County vaccinated 107,353 persons, with 71.6% of those over age 65 vaccinated and 27.8% of the county’s population vaccinated.

• Palm Beach County vaccinated 358,273 persons with 71.0 of those over age 65 vaccinated and 23.8% of the county population vaccinated.

covid-19, vaccination, distribution, lag

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