PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. — The city of Port St. Lucie will hold a town hall Thursday to answer any concerns surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Our perception is that there has definitely been some vaccine hesitancy," said pulmonologist Dr. Mark Pamer.
Pamer has partnered with the city to help administer shots at clinics.
The vaccine myth-buster town hall will be held at 5:30 p.m. inside City Hall.
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There will be limited seating inside.
Residents can also watch online on the city's website.
"The things I've been hearing the most recent is that we had already herd immunity, which is preposterous," said Pamer. "If we had herd immunity, nobody would be dying or very few people would be dying."
Statewide, the demand for doses has declined significantly in the last two weeks.
On April 14, one day after the temporary pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the state administered 205,007 doses.
On April 21, only 176,333 doses were given compared to 77,871.
"Misinformation is a huge problem," said Mayor Gregory Oravec. "Getting good objective information, there's a problem in today's society."
"I think the J&J thing caused a lot of it with the blood clots and all of that," said resident Robert Szladek. "I think when they paused the vaccine, I think that made people hesitant about all of them."
Pamer said he's hoping to separate fact from fiction.
"There's not this giant conspiracy to make the population sick with COVID vaccines," said Pamer. "We're trying to save lives. This is a deadly, deadly virus that you don't want."