Food vouchers, zoo tickets, breakfasts offered to get a COVID-19 vaccine at Brevard sites – Florida Today

The Florida Departmentof Health-Brevard and other local entities have begun offering incentives for people to get their COVID-19 vaccines, as coronavirus cases are spiking in the county and the state as a whole.

Meanwhile, the number of people vaccinated in Brevard County during the week of July 23-29 rose to 6,825 almost double the 3,470 vaccinated in the previous week, according to the latest-available FDOH data.

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Statewide, 248,546 people were vaccinatedduring the week of July 23-29, up from 155,806 in the previous week.

Florida Rep. Randy Fine, whose district includes southern Brevard County, said everyone who can get a COVID-19 vaccine should get one.

Fine was hospitalized with COVID-19 last year before the vaccine was available and since then also has been vaccinated.

"I didn't have the choice" to get vaccinated last year, because a vaccine wasn't available then, Fine said.

But Fine believes many unvaccinated people who are hospitalized locally with COVID-19 now wish they had gotten the vaccine.

According to Health First, of those recently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, 96% are unvaccinated. Additionally, 97% of Health First's COVID-19-positive patients at its four Brevard hospitals are unvaccinated.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Fine wrote: "I will never vote to mandate the vaccine. But if I can save one person from dying because I convince them to get it even if I lose my election from all those who disagree I can live with that."

The incentives being offered in Brevard to get a vaccine include a $10 food voucher for local grocery stores, free Brevard Zoo admission and a free breakfast, depending on where the vaccine is administered.

DOH-Brevard is offering $10 food vouchers for those who get their first COVID-19 vaccination at Health Department clinics in Melbourne, Titusville andViera.

The free vaccinations are offered from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at these FDOH sites:

Anita Stremmel, assistant director of the FDOH-Brevard,said the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be available at the Viera site. Only the Pfizer vaccine will be available at the Melbourne and Titusville sites.

The Pfizer vaccine can be administered to people ages 12 and up. The Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines can be administered to those ages 18 and up.

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Stremmel said $10 food vouchers are good at large grocery chains, including Publix, Winn-Dixie, Albertsons, Food Lion and Save A Lot.

Food vouchers also will be available at vaccine outreach eventswhile supplies last.

Stremmel said there also will be two opportunities from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to get a vaccine and reap additional benefits:

Stremmel said other organizations that want to offer incentives or host an outreach can call DOH-Brevard outreach coordinator Nancee Brown at 321-615-9546.

Through Thursday, 313,977 Brevard residents 51.4% of the county's population have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Statewide, 11,757,156 people or 53.5% of the state's population have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.

There have been 51,525 COVID 19 cases in Brevard and 2,590,699 cases statewide since the pandemic began.

The weekly count of new cases has increased tenfold statewide in the last seven weeks from 10,459 during the week of June 11-17 to 110,477 during the week of July 23-29.

There have been 39,079 COVID-19-related deaths in Florida since the pandemic began, including 31,805 involving persons ages 65 and up.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY.Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

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Food vouchers, zoo tickets, breakfasts offered to get a COVID-19 vaccine at Brevard sites - Florida Today