ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Health officials and nurses are concerned about the level of vaccinations among staff in long-term care facilities after one Delta variant case of COVID-19 led to the death of a vaccinated resident of a facility in Orange County. 

Alvina Chu, interim director of the Division of Infectious Diseases for Florida Department of Health in Orange County, says it’s rare, but possible to see breakout infections in older people who’ve been vaccinated.

“There are many people who do develop a good robust immunity and then many who don’t, so we want to be especially careful for our older population, especially if you’re living in a long-term care facility,” said Chu.

She said it is very important that care facility staff get vaccinated, if they haven’t already.

“We’re currently in a race against the Delta variant which will soon become the dominant strain circulating in the United States, and every new infection potentially threatens the good immunity we’ve built up in our community,” said Chu.

Sophia Colley is a certified nursing assistant who works at a Central Florida nursing home.

She represents United Healthcare Workers East, the largest nurses union in Florida. 

Spectrum News spoke with her back in January when she was one of the first at her facility to get vaccinated for COVID-19. She said that more than five months later, only about half of her colleagues have been vaccinated.

“We’re trying to pull out all kinds of resources to educate the ones who are adamant about not getting the vaccine,” said Colley.

The Agency for Health Care Administration said in June they stopped requiring care facilities throughout the state to report COVID-19 information. 

But the federal government is still tracking that data. A chart on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ website shows Florida ranks second to last in the nation for nursing home staff vaccinations at just more than 42%.  

Colley worries what will happen if her fellow health care workers don’t get vaccinated, and how it will impact the residents they care for.

“My concern right now is people not getting the vaccine and then they get infected and then pass it on to the ones who are entrusted in their care,” said Colley.

Florida Department of Health officials said the majority of recent hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 are from people not vaccinated.