Some Florida residents are late for their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, as many face concerns about the potential side effects of the vaccine.
© Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images / Getty
An American Medical Response, Inc health worker working with the Florida Department of Health in Broward is shown above administering a Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine in the John Knox Village long-term retirement community on January 6, 2021 in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The two COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States each require a second dose about 3-4 weeks after the first to be fully effective. The Pfizer vaccine requires a second dose after 21 days, and the Modern vaccine after 28 days.
More than 1 million Florida residents have been vaccinated for COVID-19, and nearly 92,000 of them have already followed up with their second dose, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Of the remaining 915,000 people who received the first dose, more than 40,000 of them are late for the second dose.
Many of them are elderly people who are concerned about the side effects of the accompanying dose.
Jason Mahon, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, told the local newspaper South Florida Sun-Sentinal that everyone who received the first dose is immediately scheduled for the second. Mahon also noted that 80 percent of people receiving the second dose received it.
The problem for many Florida residents who do not receive a second dose is not availability, as Florida collected nearly 2 million doses of vaccine, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Although the exact reason why some Floridians are skipping the second dose is not clear, some speculate that it may be related to the side effects of the booster injection.
“I heard that some seniors refuse to do the second injection because they heard that the side effects are worse with the second injection,” Todd Husty, director of emergency medical service for Seminole County, told the local WFLA television station.
According to the CDC, side effects can include pain and swelling at the injection site, fever, chills, tiredness and headaches. Some people have reported intensified side effects after the second injection of the vaccine. Health officials, however, noted that severe vaccine symptoms are rare.
Husty said the solution is to educate people that getting COVID-19 is far worse than the vaccine’s side effects.
More than 11,000 new coronavirus cases and 133 deaths were reported in Florida on January 17. Last week, there were an average of 13,467 new cases each day, according to data from the New York Times. Throughout the pandemic, the state recorded more than 1.5 million cases and 24,000 deaths.
Click to expand
NEXT
Florida is one of eight states that reported the most infectious variant B.1.1.7. Variant cases have also been identified in Colorado, California, Georgia, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Although, health officials warn that the variant is probably circulating undetected across the country.
Newsweek contacted the Florida Department of Health for comment.
Related articles
Start your Newsweek unlimited trial
Keep reading