Orange County officials venture into communities to stop hepatitis A outbreak

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Health officials in Orange County have ventured into the community more than 100 times in 2019 to vaccinate people against hepatitis A.

Florida has been dealing with an outbreak of the virus, with 92 new cases reported across the state last week.

Officials haven't been able to pinpoint why numbers are so high locally, but are taking action by heading into communities to find those who are at risk.

"We're trying to go out to places where it's harder to reach populations that might be at risk for hepatitis A," said Alvina Chu.

Chu is trying to get people vaccinated against the virus as the outbreak continues to grow.

"This particular outbreak of hepatitis A and these numbers is unprecedented in what I've seen before," said Chu.

With 115 cases in Orange County so far in 2019, health officials said they can't wait around and hope that high-risk groups show up at their offices to get protected, so they've been traveling to places such as the library,the jail and even a food pantry to help in curbing the outbreak.

The Health Department in Orange County has administered more than 3,100 doses of vaccine this year.

The Florida Department of Health in Orange County is offering free or reduced-cost hepatitis-A vaccines to Orange County residents who are in a high risk group, by appointment only, or at their scheduled vaccination events. For information and to make an appointment, call the DOH-Orange Epidemiology Program at 407-858-1420.