Q&A of the Day Part 2 – How many Floridians want a COVID-19 vaccine?
Bottom Line: Knowing the percentage of Florida’s overall population which has been vaccinated could assist with understanding how close we could be to “herd immunity”. That is if experts like Dr. Fauci stop moving that number around. For the sake of conversation, 75% seems to be a common number most think would achieve herd immunity. Regarding your question however, we do have guidance to go on from the Florida Department of Health based on those who are eligible to be vaccinated under Florida’s Phase 1 program. According to the Florida Department of Health:
- Approximately 4.4 million Floridians are eligible under Phase 1
- Approximately 3 million of those eligible want the vaccine
That equates to 68% who want the vaccine. Now there are multiple variables in play. Will more people want to become vaccinated as time goes along should there be increased evidence of success? Will other demographics want to be vaccinated at the same rate as those eligible in Phase 1? We don’t know until we get there. But for the ease of conversation and to best answer your question, let’s say 68% want the vaccine. That’d be about 14.6 million Floridians who’d need to be vaccinated. That’d mean approximately 4% of those wanting to be immunized have been with at least one dose thus far.
Governor DeSantis said capacity is being ramped up with the expectation to deliver 60,000 new vaccinations daily. Should that occur we’d be on track to immunize 14.6 million Floridians in 233 days, or around August.
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