JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayor Lenny Curry officially launched a new campaign that will encourage people to get the influenza vaccine.
He made the announcement through a Zoom Call with Duval County Medical Society Foundation President, Dr. Sunil Joshi.
Curry and Dr. Joshi both were concern about this year’s flu season as it coincides with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s critically important this year, more than any other for us to encourage vaccines for the flu. We have issues typically in the fall and the winter months in our hospitals, you know, we’ve been talking a lot about flattening the curve and keeping people out of the hospital, which is what we were able to do in the spring and summer months. The concern is in the fall, in the winter, we typically come very, very close to capacity in our hospitals in any given year just because of the flu itself or other respiratory viruses, RSV, rhino virus, adenovirus, all of these typical viruses that make people sick," Dr. Joshi said. "Get our hospitals very close to capacity as it is. If we throw the COVID-19 patients in there as well, there is a very, very large concern among our hospitals that we may become over capacity.”
Curry said he wants to increase adult vaccination rate to 48 percent or more this year.
“In a normal year, the first coast has about a 37 percent adult vaccination rate. With the FluVaxJax campaign, we hope to increase the adult flu vaccination rate to 48 percent or more,” Curry said.
Dr. Joshi said that for senior citizens, they are 82 percent less likely to require hospitalizations if they received a flu vaccine. For children, they are 70 percent less likely for a child to require hospitalization from the flu if they are vaccinated.
A website with local resources has been launched. They are accepting donations to help uninsured and underserved people to get the vaccinations.
Cox Media Group
