ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida is about to make COVID-19 vaccines available to Floridians ages 16 and older, which should take the state another step closer to herd immunity.
But at the latest check of how close Central Florida counties are to reaching that goal, it looks like some counties are farther away from it than others.
READ: DeSantis issues executive order banning COVID-19 ‘vaccine passports’ in Florida
Significant ground gained in adult vaccinations now has 28% of Orange County residents vaccinated. But Orange County still ranks at #46 out of all Florida counties for percent of residents vaccinated, making it the second-worst in Central Florida in terms of how close the county is to reaching herd immunity.
Here are the latest vaccination percentages across Central Florida:
1. Sumter: 60%
2. Flagler: 40%
3. Lake: 40%
4. Marion: 32%
5. Volusia: 32%
6. Brevard: 32%
7: Seminole: 29%
8: Orange: 28%
9. Osceola: 26%
READ: Coronavirus: Fully vaccinated people can safely travel, CDC says
However, comparing Orange with Pinellas County, which is more similar in size but has a 35% vaccination rate, illustrates why these overall rankings don’t tell the whole story.
Orange and Osceola are two of the youngest counties in the state, so they didn’t have as many residents to vaccinate during earlier vaccination periods. They are about to have a lot more as the eligibility age lowers.
WATCH: ‘Breakthrough cases’: Some still getting COVID-19 after being vaccinated