More employees at Orlando businesses are getting the chance to get the coronavirus vaccine at their workplaces.
About 60 people, including workers, friends and family members, were set to get the Pfizer vaccine on Monday at a downtown Orlando digital marketing company called Launch That, said president and chief operating officer David Palombo. The second dose will also be offered there in three weeks.
“We’re promoting getting the vaccine,” Palombo said. “We had a very vibrant office culture, pre-pandemic.”
Employee vaccination events are just the latest ways adults in Florida can get the vaccine, which has also been available at retail pharmacies in Orlando such as Publix and Walmart.
In March, Publix said leftover vaccine doses at the end of the night would go to eligible employees when possible.
The Launch That inoculations were coordinated by the Change for the Community organization and Pulse Clinical Alliance, which provides the vaccine doses, said Shaniqua Rose, Change for the Community president and CEO.
The organizations also helped do about 60 to 70 vaccinations for workers at the downtown club The Beacham last week and planned to return Monday to vaccinate staffers there and from nearby hospitality businesses, Rose said.
“It’s important and it’s critical that we protect our hospitality industry workers,” Rose said.
Vaccinating the employees at Launch That will help hospitality workers because downtown business staffers visit those establishments, Rose said.
“We wanted to ensure the entire downtown Orlando corridor is safe,” Rose said.
Employees of Quality One Wireless in Orlando, along with their family members, will also be able to get their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday through a company called the Walk on Clinic that offers mobile healthcare services.
The second dose will be offered at the business on May 4.
Sixty time slots were initially filled up for vaccinations at their Southland Boulevard headquarters, and another 60 have since been added, according to Chelsea Whalley, a co-owner of J Donovan Financial who is Quality One’s benefits advisor. She connected the clinic to the company.
Events like this can help attract and retain employees, Whalley said.
“I think that anything a company can do to make healthcare convenient for their employees will make them the employer of choice,” Whalley said.
Vaccinations are voluntary at both Quality One and Launch That.
County health officials have also discussed having some of its largest employers host vaccinations on-site, hoping to reach younger age groups who may not want to take time off from work to get the shot.
The county has memorandums of understanding with several such businesses, said Dr. Raul Pino, the local state health officer, including Lockheed Martin, Scripps, UCF and others. A full list wasn’t immediately available.
“Using employee-based closed pods may help bring the vaccines to those individuals who are extremely busy,” Pino said last month.
Disney World also confirmed last week that some employees received the Pfizer vaccine at its health services clinic near Epcot.
Dr. Marissa Levine, director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice at the University of South Florida, said the approach is particularly effective in reaching students and workers.
“Anything that improves accessibility to the vaccine is a great approach,” she said.
Orange County is now in the “mass vaccination” stage, said Kent Donahue, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Orange County.
“The vaccine distribution effort is very dynamic in a positive way,” Donahue said.
afuller@orlandosentinel.com; rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com
