More Floridians head to the COVID vaccination clinics as omicron looms

Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read
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As news of the coronavirus' omicron variant spread after Thanksgiving, more unvaccinated Floridians got their first shots in the following week than at any time since late August.

Between Nov. 26 and Friday, 39,022 Florida residents received their first doses of the vaccine, the state Health Department reported Friday. That's the biggest weekly increase since Aug. 20. About 1.9 million people are awaiting their second shots.

The omicron variant has been detected in at least 10 states but not Florida yet.

FILE - Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine sit in a cooler before being thawed at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site in the Bronx borough of New York on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, Pfizer asked U.S. regulators to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

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In total, 14,418,089 Florida residents have gotten at least one jab, covering 69% of the eligible population.

That includes 9,568,305 who got the Johnson & Johnson shot, or the second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer injections; and 2,957,193 residents who have gotten boosters.

Inoculation levels ranged from 9% of kids ages 5 to 11 to 89% for elders 65 and older.

State health officials added 153 coronavirus fatalities since Nov. 26, the smallest weekly increase this year.

The weekly death increase was much lower than the 467 in the week ending Nov. 26, which the state reported Tuesday. Friday's weekly report was the first one covering the days covering the week after Thanksgiving.

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A year ago, on Dec. 3, 2020, Florida reported an increase of 630 people killed by the illness, a number higher than the week before.

Florida also reported Friday the respiratory disease was the No. 3 killer of people statewide in 2020. COVID-19 killed 19,157 residents in 2020, a state Health Department database shows. Only heart disease and cancer felled more Floridians.

Since Jan. 1, Florida's coronavirus death toll has soared by 39,811 residents.

The fatality count stood Friday at 61,701 Florida residents.

Florida reported 10,663 new infections since Nov. 26, a bump from fewer than 9,000 the week before.

At an estimated 49 cases for every 100,000 residents, the state's COVID-19 infection rate is lower than every state except Hawaii. This is a stark difference from summer, when Florida recorded more deaths and infections than every state as the delta variant tore through mostly unvaccinated residents.

Health officials have logged 3,697,523 coronavirus cases statewide since the start of the pandemic.

Just 2.5% of COVID-19 tests came back positive over the past week, the state reported Friday, continuing the eight-week long trend of the recommended sub-5% positivity.

Chris Persaud is a data reporter for The Palm Beach Post.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Omicron looms: Floridians head to COVID vaccination clinics