VCC District 2 Member Wants People To Know COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe

DeLand, FL – It’s a known statistic that the percentage of people of color who have received a COVID-19 vaccine is about half that of the white population in Florida.  Just 21% of the more than 3.7 million people in the Black community are vaccinated. Just 28% of the more than 5.3 million people in the Hispanic community are vaccinated. In the white community, 41% of the people in all age groups have been vaccinated. Volusia County Council District 2 member Barb Girtman has been working since vaccinations became available to get more people of color vaccinated. She said getting the virus without being vaccinated can kill you. "An IT department in one of our Florida counties, six people were impacted. Three have died, two are still hospitalized. The only person who did not have extreme impact was the one person that had been vaccinated." Girtman says a big concern is that the Delta variant is stronger and has a greater effect on those who are not vaccinated. "I think the one way we can get in front of that is to get our community vaccinated and especially our children before they go back to school." Taking the virus seriously is important, according to Girtman. She said she tries to put every precaution and every message out there to let people know. Protect our communities, our family, our state, and our county by taking the precautions that are available. She says we can still choose to "Wash up. Back up. Mask up." and added "Vax up" to the list. For the latest information in Volusia County on the COVID-19 vaccine, visit volusia.org.