Appointments still limited as Kemp says Georgia set to receive more doses per week
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COVID update
by Wayne Hardy, White County News, and Beau Evans, Capitol Beat News Service
COVID-19 vaccine appointments remain scarce locally as demand has outpaced Georgia’s available supply, but the federal government is expected to increase the numbers of doses allocated to the state.
Georgia has not yet reached the halfway point in giving first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the roughly 2 million people currently eligible more than a month after the state’s distribution program began, Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday, Jan. 26.
The number of shots administered to Georgia health-care workers, nursing home residents and staff, first responders and people ages 65 and older has gone up in recent weeks after a halting mid-December start, Kemp said at a news conference in the state Capitol.
Kemp’s office announced Tuesday night the Biden administration will start allocating Georgia an additional roughly 25,000 vaccine doses per week. That will increase Georgia’s current weekly allotment to 145,900 doses, Kemp’s office said – an amount lagging far behind the millions of doses needed to halt the virus’ spread.
“Although we still expect demand to far exceed supply for the foreseeable future, this is no doubt welcome news, and we will work around the clock to get these vaccines distributed and safely administered as quickly as possible,” Kemp said in a statement Tuesday night.
Kemp had earlier on Tuesday said his office did not know when the federal government would allocate more vaccine doses, saying he had not yet spoken directly with the new Biden administration and that he did not expect Georgia’s weekly allotment “to change certainly for the next few weeks.”
With limited quantities in the hands of providers, vaccine appointments have steadily filled locally.
The District 2 Public Health office, which includes the White County Health Department, announced last Thursday, Jan. 21, that its appointment schedules were full, adding that its current vaccine stock had been allocated for existing appointments for first and second doses.
“We will add appointments for vaccinations to our schedules as we receive vaccine,” said Dave Palmer, spokesman for the district health office. “Please keep in mind that we are receiving small quantities of vaccine compared to the demand, so the number of appointments we can add are limited.”
The White County Health Department has been administering an average of about 100 vaccine doses a day, said Nurse Manager Cindy King. Some second doses have been scheduled for February and March, she added.
Residents are advised to check for updates about availability at the office’s website – phdistrict2.org – and its Facebook page – www.facebook.com/district2publichealth.
Vaccines eventually could be provided elsewhere in the district as resources allow, Palmer said. Details are to be announced.
“Future plans are to administer the vaccine at alternate sites, so each county can continue providing essential services at the health departments,”he said. “Additionally, we have coordinated with communities to use facilities where large numbers of people can be vaccinated when a greater quantity of vaccine become available. We have also added staffing to help manage the clinics.”
Under Georgia’s current Phase 1A+ phase of the vaccine rollout, eligible recipients include healthcare workers, residents and staff of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, law enforcement, firefighters and first responders, as well as adults age 65 or older and their caregivers. No time has been set for when eligibility will be expanded.
Just over 746,000 vaccines had been administered throughout the state, according to a Jan. 26 update from the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Health departments across the state have enough vaccines to schedule second doses for people who have received their first, said state Public Health Director Dr. Kathleen Toomey.
More than 99% of the state’s nursing homes have also been supplied vaccines through a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, Kemp said. He has set a goal to vaccinate all of Georgia’s nursing home residents and staff by the end of this month.
But limited shipments from the federal government have kept state officials so far from expanding which Georgians can be eligible for the vaccine to school teachers and other at-risk groups such as those with developmental disabilities, she said. “All this is dependent on the availability of vaccine,” Toomey said at Tuesday’s news conference.
The governor added officials are creating a statewide vaccine scheduling and tracking tool as local health departments field a flood of calls for the few available appointments, but more work is needed before that tool can go online.
“Doing that prematurely could be disastrous,” Kemp said.
Meanwhile, the number of hospitalizations and positive case rates from COVID-19 has fallen in recent days amid a rough winter spike that began in November, Kemp said. He urged Georgians to continue wearing masks, washing hands and keeping their distance from others despite the downward trend.
“We cannot take the improving numbers we’re seeing for granted,” Kemp said.
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Even as COVID-19 vaccines continue to arrive, health and safety officials continue to urge the public to continue mitigating spread of the coronavirus.
Precautions include wearing a face covering, washing hands often, maintaining social distancing of 6 feet if possible, following quarantine guidelines if exposed, and isolating at home if sick.
Checking on vaccine availability
Most local appointments are booked, but some providers advise checking back for updates. Information on providers throughout the state is available at dph.georgia.gov.
• White County Health Department and the District 2 Public Health Office
As of Jan. 21, the district office said no more appointments were available until additional shipments of vaccine arrive. New appointments are expected to be limited until shipments increase. Updates are being posted at phdistrict2.org and www.facebook.com/district2publichealth. The White County Health Department’s number is 706-865-2191 and the district’s number is 770-531-5692.
• MedLink Georgia – White County
Call 706-521-3113.
• Cleveland Drug Company
Call 706-219-2626.
ν Ingles Pharmacy
Availability is posted at www.ingles-markets.com/pharmacy/pg1/pharmacy-sub/vaccinations
• Northeast Georgia Health System
Visit www.nghs.com/covid-19/vaccine-updates or call 678-989-5005 with vaccine questions.
• Habersham Medical Center
Updates will be posted to its Facebook page and www.habershammedical.com
COVID-19 activity in white county
• 2,615 total confirmed cases during pandemic
• 7-day moving average of cases
• 15.7 case average as of Jan. 26
• Down from 23.4 on Jan. 19
• Recently: 29.9 on Jan. 12 and 26.9 on Jan. 5
• Since early December, White County remains in its most active period of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.
• 587 cases reported this month through Jan. 26
• December’s 688 was highest count yet
• 52 deaths attributed to COVID-19
Source: Georgia Department of Public Health Jan. 26 status report