Georgia Expands Who Can Get Coronavirus Vaccines Next

ATLANTA, GA — More Georgians are now eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine as state officials plan mass vaccination sites to quickly increase the number of people who are immune to the virus and the COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by it.

Gov. Brian Kemp and Kathleen Toomey, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said at a Thursday press conference that adults age 65 and older, law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders to the category of individuals eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine. Health-care workers, as well as staff and residents of long-term care facilities, are already in this highest priority group, per a Dec. 30 press release.

“I think the data are very clear. Individuals 65 and older are at high risk for complications of COVID[-19], high risk for complications such as hospitalization, but also death from COVID[-19],” Toomey said during a Dec. 31 news conference. “It really made sense for us to move into this additional category to offer vaccines for such vulnerable individuals at a time when, sadly, we are not getting the kind of uptake of vaccines by health care workers all over the state.”

Per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states are allowed to tailor vaccine prioritization recommendations based on the specific needs and availability of vaccines.

“The CDC guidance is exactly that: guidance. Every state is different. They get different scenarios, and we’re dealing with the Georgia scenario,” Kemp said during the news conference. “Dr. Toomey and I both agree that if there’s a vaccine sitting in a freezer somewhere, that is not what we want.”

The new groups of individuals will be able to receive the vaccine in the coming weeks as more vaccines become available, Toomey said, with the rollout happening more quickly in rural areas due to lower demand. She said the state plans to set up a series of drive-thru, mass vaccination clinics where multiple people can be vaccinated at the same time, potentially in partnership with some of the public health department’s university partners to increase the number of vaccinations even further.

“Here in metro Atlanta, there’s still a waiting list of hundreds of health care workers waiting to get vaccinated. But in many parts of rural Georgia, both the north and the south, there’s vaccines available and literally sitting in freezers,” Toomey said during the news conference. “That’s not acceptable. We have lives to save.”

Toomey said to expect “a lot of public information coming out” about the mass vaccination clinics and the logistics for expanded eligibility groups in the next several weeks. Appointments will be required to receive the vaccine.

To date, 61,780 vaccines have been administered in Georgia, according to the public health department’s coronavirus vaccine dashboard — but this number is likely much lower than the true number of people who have received the vaccine, as there is a delay in reporting, Toomey said.

“I was relieved when the vaccine became available in Georgia because it’s going to be our tool to ending this pandemic here — but it’s only going to happen if 80 percent of Georgians are willing to take the vaccine because that’s how many people are required within a given area to have what’s called herd immunity,” Toomey said during the news conference. “At a time when we’re seeing the highest community spread we’ve ever had during this pandemic, I think it’s even more important to recognize that this is lifesaving and can stop the pandemic and get back to normal life.”

More than 1,000 providers have signed up to be vaccine providers in the state, and Toomey said to expect more of these providers to offer vaccinations in their offices, expanding access to the vaccine for this new group as well as the future rollout for the general public, which is not anticipated for several months.

“This is a fabulous way, a happy day, to end 2020 with an announcement with the potential to save many, many lives in Georgia, even in the next several weeks,” Toomey said.