CLEARWATER, Fla. — Data from the Florida Department of Health shows a declining number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered during the past two weeks. State teams canvassing neighborhoods to register people say they're also seeing a drop in demand.

"At first, it was absolutely overwhelming," said Stacey Gedeon, branch director of outreach and RN supervisor with the State Emergency Response Team. "People were just crawling at the chance, grasping at the chance to get a vaccine. We're two months into it. At this point, it's a good thing that now that the number of registrations have dropped and the eligibility requirements have dropped now that we're seeing a really large number of people that have already been vaccinated."

Gedeon said six teams began canvassing the Tampa area as part of the Florida Division of Emergency Management's vaccine outreach efforts during the second week of March. They've made contact with 90,000 people since then. Canvassers walk the neighborhoods surrounding mobile vaccination sites to let them know vaccines are available nearby and register anyone who wants one.

"Originally, we were reaching out to the most disenfranchised neighborhoods, according to the census — those that might not have access to cars, those that made below a certain amount of income," Gedeon said.

As vaccine availability and eligibility expanded, Gedeon said so did canvassing efforts. Team members said, lately, most people they come in contact with have either already been vaccinated or don't want the shots.

"The most common reason would be they're not sure yet because it just came out," said canvasser Moises Jimenez. 

Gedeon said in addition to residential efforts, teams also plan to branch out to local businesses.