TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Before Florida receives its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the state will have to instill confidence in the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
Public confidence in the vaccine is now relatively low, but as the rollout revs up, expect to see more messaging from the state encouraging Floridians to get vaccinated.
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Each flu season, the Florida Department of Health puts out messaging encouraging Floridians to get a flu shot. But as the state awaits the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, there has so far been little to no messaging to instill public confidence.
“Folks need to feel confident in the vaccine and confidence in the process to volunteer to actually take it,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.
Public confidence in a vaccine is still relatively low. A November Gallup Poll found 6 out of 10 Americans plan to get vaccinated.
Former Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Mary Mayhew said that right now, the priority is on the logistics of distributing the vaccine to vulnerable populations.
“And we know we’re not even going to have enough allocation in the next few weeks to meet that demand,” said Mayhew, who now serves as president of the Florida Hospital Association.
According to the state’s vaccine plan, television ads, social media campaigns and even a vaccine informational website are planned. And Mayhew expects that as the vaccine becomes more widely available, we’ll begin to see those education efforts ramp up from both the state and groups like the Florida Hospital Association.
“So that everyone understands the various vaccines that are out there and the safety and confidence that the medical community has in these vaccines,” Mayhew said.
The Pfizer vaccine could receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as early as this week.
The governor has said doses will begin arriving in the state within 24 hours of approval.
Capitol News Service reached out to the Florida Department of Health and asked when to expect the vaccine awareness campaigns to begin but did not receive a response as of Monday afternoon.