Analysis: Florida’s COVID-19 vaccination rate outpacing new infections, but needs improvement

ORLANDO, Fla. — So far, Florida has administered less than a quarter of the state’s available COVID-19 vaccines, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.

According to the state’s own most recent vaccination report, as of Jan. 3, just over 260,000 Floridians have received their first doses, and none have received the second doses to achieve the about 95% immunity from either vaccine.

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Experts say, at the current rate, it would take more than two years to reach herd immunity in Florida.

Herd immunity is when enough people are immune to a disease, making its spread unlikely.

Now, as statistician Eric Solomon notes, there are two ways to achieve some level of immunity to COVID-19: “There’s the hard way, and that is you contract the disease and your body has to build a defense to it and you’re immune.”

The easy way, Solomon says, is of course to be vaccinated.

According to Solomon’s calculations, about 1.5 million Floridians have some immunity either through infection or the first dose of a vaccine...less than 8% of the state’s population.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it would take more than 70% percent for herd immunity in a given population.

“This gives us an idea of how long of a race we have to run to get there,” Solomon says.

The CDC says Florida has been given about 1.2 million doses of the vaccine so far.

READ: Where to find the COVID-19 vaccine in your county

According to the state’s daily vaccination report, about 260,600 people have received the first shot as of Jan 3.

At the current rate, Solomon says it would take more than another two years to reach 70% of the population.

“We really should be vaccinating somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 people a day,” Solomon says. “There’s a lot of ups and downs.”

Since Dec. 16, there have been days when less than 5,000 people got their first shot. Then, there are days like Dec. 30, when nearly 40,000 doses were administered.

“So it doesn’t look like it’s been a very consistent process,” Solomon says.

The rate of vaccinations is running slightly ahead of the rate at which people are currently getting infected. However, Solomon says, there’s still plenty of work to be done.

“There’s no sense having four times or five times as much vaccine available, if we can’t administer it effectively to the population.”

READ: US regulator weighs in on vaccine dosing debate

Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled a new four-part plan Monday to help boost vaccine distribution. It includes setting up vaccine sites at local churches, particularly in underserved communities.

DeSantis has also instructed the Department of Emergency Management to hire 1,000 more nurses to help supplement the 800 National Guardsmen and women already helping to administer the vaccine statewide.

Cox Media Group