- April 19, 2024
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The number of people coming to the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County for vaccination this past week exceeded the number testing positive for COVID-19, reversing a trend that had concerned health department staff members.
"We had 445 people get vaccinated, and we only had 441 cases," DOH-Flagler Communications Manager Gretchen Smith said on Flagler Broadcasting's "Free For All Friday" on Sept. 17. "That's first time that it’s flipped, so that’s good news."
Smith noted that the department has passed the 1,000-case mark for COVID-19 cases among local school students in the past month. There are approximately 13,000 students in Flagler Schools, so that would mean that one out of every 13 students has had COVID-19 in the first month of school.
The health department estimates that that number is actually at least twice that, said Dr. Stephen Bickel, medical director at the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County.
No pediatric COVID-19 cases locally have required hospitalization.
Overall, 60% of the Flagler County residents 12 and older have been vaccinated, Bickel said. Flagler County school students have had the second highest rate of religious exemptions for vaccination, Smith said; Sarasota County has had the most.
Even people who've had COVID-19 should get vaccinated, Bickel said.
"It’s not an either/or," he said. "If you had COVID, you are much better off still getting vaccinated. The evidence is overwhelming for that."
Data on breakthrough cases in vaccinated people is still preliminary, but fending off the delta variant of COVID-19 requires stronger immunity than did previous variants, Bickel said. Combined with the variant's heightened contagiousness, that's led to higher numbers of breakthrough cases affecting vaccinated people.
The FDA is considering an application from Pfizer for COVID-19 vaccination booster shots for adults.
"Boosters are probably going to be necessary at some point, the question is when, and for whom," he said.
People who have immunosuppression can get booster shots now.
"They do work," Bickel said. "They are safe; it’s just a question of how big a need there is."
The vaccines are continuing to show effectiveness percentages in the high 80s to 90s, he said.
