Orlando community takes advantage of free monkeypox vaccine sites during Pride events

ORLANDO, Fla. — Thousands of people in Central Florida are now vaccinated against the monkeypox virus.

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The Orange County Health Department set up a clinic during this weekend’s Pride festival.

People have been visiting the Orlando Public Library all weekend for vaccinations.

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Organizers said this location was a big part of their success because since Pride events were already going on downtown, they could catch hundreds of people who happened to walk by the library.

Since then, the Health Department has been organizing pop-up events like this one.

The lead nurse at the clinic, Barb Dueker, said it’s always important to bring resources into the communities that are most affected.

“We’ve been here this weekend for Pride Fest because we can reach out to the demographic that we want to target and we’ve had a great turnout, we’ve had people from other states, out of town that are here for the event.”

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Jayson Allen got vaccinated Sunday specifically because of the library location.

“It was very convenient. I thought I would have to go to a hospital to do it, so as long as it’s in the library and the community is coming and taking advantage of it, then that’s all that matters.”

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The clinic has actually been going on since August.

If you were not able to make it to the clinic this weekend, you can click here for more information.

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