ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County leaders say they’ve now vaccinated 76% of those most vulnerable, people age 65 and up. 

What You Need To Know

  •  About 76% of people 65 and up in Orange County have been vaccinated for COVID-19

  •  Experts say most new cases are being seen in people aged 18-35

  • Officials want to target that age group for vaccination to bring numbers down

Now they want to target where they are seeing the most cases, in younger people age 18 to 35.

Rollins College student Samijah Butler’s resume is stacked. 

“I’m the vice president of the Black Student Union," she said. "I’m the events chair for Rollins entertainment program, I am a wellness ambassador."

And if all that wasn’t enough, she’s now added the title “vaccine ambassador," publicly getting the vaccine to encourage more people in her age demographic to get one. 

“They are the most socially active, they always have the highest percentage of infection rates, and they also have the highest percentage of asymptomatic people,” said Department of Health Officer for Orange County Dr. Raul Pino.

He says they’re trying to encourage more people 18-35 years old to get the vaccine for those reasons, and because that’s where they’re seeing an increase in the spread of COVID-19 variants. 

“And those variant cases could continue to mutate," he said. "The concern is that we get to the point where we have a mutation where the vaccines are not effective."

Just to give you an idea of how those variants are spreading among younger demographics

Pino said out of all the cases in those 18-34, about 25% of them are cases of COVID-19 variants. 

That’s why they invited Butler and students from the University of Central Florida and Valencia College, and an Orange County high school student to get vaccinated on camera. 

“That responsibility falls upon me now to really get my friends excited so we can protect our schools, stay safe,” said Jack Cocchiarella, a senior at Winter Park High School. 

As Butler got her shot, she was thinking about her 10-year-old sister, whose schooling she says has been severely disrupted by the pandemic. 

“I do it for her, because she deserves that childhood and that light to grow just as I had,” she said. 

She hopes ​her peers will see that the quicker they all get vaccinated, the quicker life becomes more stable for everyone. 

"Its gonna take all of us to reach that sense of normalcy like we had before,” Butler said. ​