Florida sees increase in vaccinations as companies set requirement for employees

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph has made the COVID-19 mandatory for all of his 318 employees.

“We’re an essential agency that just cannot afford to be closed,” he said.

When the announcement was made last week, 45% of staff had at least one shot. One week later, that number has soared, and 77% now have at least one dose.

READ: Protesters take to Orange County following mayor’s decision to mandate vaccines for county employees

In a statement, the tax collector said, “We are trending in the right direction, but there’s still more work to do.”

Randolph said some staff members don’t want the shot, and “if they don’t want to get the vaccine, we wish them well. We obviously will give them a good letter of recommendation, but a public-facing office that deals with the public, that has to be open — it just isn’t the job for them.”

Three of the 318 employees have resigned, citing the vaccine requirement.

READ: Disney to require all salaried, non-union hourly employees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated

Last week, the state saw a 33% jump in vaccinations from the previous week.

Big companies like Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft and Walmart have made the shot mandatory, receiving praise from President Joe Biden.

In our backyard, the Walt Disney Company said it’s requiring new, salaried and non-union hourly employees get vaccinated before heading to work.

READ: OCPS to require employees, visitors to wear face masks while indoors

Orange County also announced that its more than 4,200 nonunion employees have until Aug. 31 to get their first shot.

“I believe that as a result of some of that, that is going to drive an increase in the rate of vaccinations within our community,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.

Video: Orange County businesses contemplate COVID-19 vaccine mandates More vaccine mandates are on the way for employees across Central Florida. (Lauren Seabrook, WFTV.com)

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