500+ in county have been vaccinated for coronavirus

By Shane Scoggins

Publisher

and Beau Evans

Capitol Beat News Service

Public health officials are urging people to be patient with efforts to vaccinate citizens against the coronavirus.

“We ask for everyone to be patient,” Dave Palmer, a spokesperson for District 2 Public Health said. “Everyone who wants to get vaccinated will be.”

The Franklin County Health Department in Carnesville was until recently the sole location in Franklin County for the vaccine.

Medlink Royston recently announced that it is now accepting appointments for the vaccine as well.

Currently, emergency responders and those 65 and older are eligible to receive a vaccine.

As of Monday, the health department had given 528 vaccines, Palmer said.

District 2 officials are counting on other providers, like Medlink, to join the effort in administering vaccinations.

“As more vaccine becomes available, our health departments will be able to provide more vaccinations. We have hired additional staff and in some counties, we have volunteers who want to help,” Palmer said. “As more providers who enrolled to receive the vaccine get their allotment, it will increase the number of places where vaccine will be available.”

District 2 Public Health offers two different ways to make appointments for the vaccine.

People can sign up online at www.phdistrict2.org or by calling 1-888-426-5073.

“Both have experienced a huge volume of traffic and it may take several attempts to get an appointment,” Palmer said. “We have added staff in the call center.”

Palmer said that the district asks people to make appointments where they live or work.

All of the health departments in the district are busy, he said.

“This vaccine requires a little more time to administer than other vaccines due to the handling process,” he said. “Individuals getting vaccinated also have to be observed for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine for any reaction they may experience.”

Franklin County resident Mary Fowler said that despite the health department staff being busy, they were efficient and attentive to her when she got her vaccine.

“They were extremely busy but not so much that couldn't take care of all the  people wanting to get shots for the virus,” she said. “I feel these employees were going over and beyond to  help everyone.” 

Appointments for second doses are being made at the same time  first doses are given.

Georgia officials are hoping to get more doses of the vaccine now that Joe Biden has been sworn in.

COVID-19 vaccine shipments to Georgia are currently hovering around 80,000 per week, far short of the millions of doses needed for the state to achieve herd immunity, said Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey.

Toomey told state lawmakers at a budget hearing Tuesday the incoming Biden administration has made “a promise of additional vaccine” that could boost supplies, but those numbers will not be known until after Wednesday’s inauguration.

“We literally don’t know week-to-week what our allocation will be,” Toomey said. “There’s some disconnect between what we were told was coming and what actually is available.”

Biden has pledged to distribute 100 million vaccine doses by May. Health experts expect vaccines to be widely available to the public sometime over the summer. Georgia officials including Gov. Brian Kemp are aiming to vaccinate all nursing-home residents and staff by the end of this month.

Around 451,000 vaccines had been administered in Georgia to hospital workers, nursing home residents and staff and people ages 65 and older as of Monday morning, Toomey said. That marked less than half of doses local health providers and pharmacies had received so far from the federal government.

Toomey also noted just 30 percent of Georgia’s nursing home residents and staff have been vaccinated, leaving many thousands of the state’s most vulnerable people at risk of infection and death as the highly contagious virus continues spiking after winter holiday outbreaks.

While state officials are now setting up mass vaccination sites and better systems for eligible Georgians to schedule appointments, Toomey said the only way to halt the virus’ spread will be for state to receive more vaccines.

“At the rate we’re going, it’s going to take many, many months,” Toomey said. “We really need to be able to do these big vaccination sites, and we hope that will happen soon with the availability of more vaccine.”

Toomey told lawmakers Tuesday the COVID-19 fight has taken a toll on her agency’s morale, particularly due to criticism public-health workers have faced on social media over the slow vaccine rollout and high infection rates.

“We so seldom get thanked for the work we’re doing 24-7,” Toomey said. “Money is important … but even more than money, a thank you for what they’ve been through.”