Expand / Collapse search
☰

Orange County working to get homebound seniors vaccinated

By
Updated  February 5, 2021 5:47am EST
News
FOX 35 Orlando

Orange County working to get homebound seniors vaccinated

Not every senior has access to a car or the Internet, and for those people, it’s hard to register for and then get a vaccine.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Not every senior has access to a car or the Internet, and for those people, it’s hard to register for and then get a vaccine.

FOX 35 News took one woman’s concern to officials. Linda Watson turns 70 Friday. She lives alone in West Orange County with no Internet, no cable, and no car in good enough condition to drive to the convention center for a shot.

"It’s just very upsetting, very frustrating and I just can’t afford to be getting sick like that," said Watson.

She wants a vaccine badly but says getting one isn’t so easy for her.

"I’m just, I’m so frustrated because we’re just not getting anything in this area."

County officials said, so far, they’ve vaccinated more than 2,600 seniors who aren’t able to go to the convention center. The county has been sending paramedics to various communities to vaccinate them.

"We, again, are sending our paramedics out into the community to those seniors who have preregistered as persons with special needs. We do that for our weather phenomena and we have a list," said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

Mayor Demings suggested Linda, and others like her, get on that list. You can register on the county web site, at www.ocfl.net/psn, or call 311 in Orange County.

MORE NEWS: Democrats urge Biden to cancel up to $50k in student loan debt by executive action

He also said they are looking into other alternatives.

"In addition, we are looking for partnerships with other healthcare providers to ensure that geographically we are located throughout the county."

Ultimately officials say the big issue is vaccine supply. "We will get to everyone. We just don’t have the ability to get to everyone because we don’t’ have the inventory of vaccinations that we wish to have," said Dr. Raul Pino, with the Florida Department of Health in Orange County.

"It’s time that they realize that there’s a lot of people here that need their help," said Watson.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest coronavirus news.