Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia Department of Public Health have announced plans to add adults aged 65 and older, law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders to the current group of individuals eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccination.
Healthcare workers and staff and residents of long-term care facilities are already in this highest priority group. The expanded administration of vaccine is expected to begin within the next two weeks provided there is adequate vaccine supply available.
The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for prioritizing vaccination. States have the flexibility to tailor these recommendations based on their specific needs and available vaccine.
“Following the expert guidance of [Commissioner Kathleen Toomey Toomey], the CDC, and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Georgia will move to expand Phase 1A vaccination criteria within the next two weeks to include the elderly, law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders — provided the state continues to receive adequate vaccine supplies,” said Gov. Kemp.
“We will continue to monitor the administration efforts of our public health workers and partners in the private sector, and the supply chain of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to ensure eligible Georgians are vaccinated without delay,” Kemp said.
“Different areas of the state are completing Phase 1A at different times based on the number of healthcare workers and LTCF residents and staff they have to vaccinate,” said Commissioner Toomey.
“This expansion of 1A eligible vaccination criteria will allow vaccine to be administered as quickly as possible to our most at-risk populations in terms of exposure, transmission and severity. It also gives healthcare providers and public health staff time to plan and work with local communities across the state to ensure safe and efficient deployment of limited vaccine supplies,” Toomey said.
It is critical that even as vaccine becomes available to more people, all Georgians must continue to wear a mask, practice social distancing and wash your hands frequently. While the Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective in preventing illness in the individual being vaccinated, it is not yet known if the vaccine fully prevents person to person transmission or asymptomatic infections.
The vaccine already is being distributed to some Piedmont Fayette Hospital workers.
So the elderly, law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders get the first round. Next round would be grocery store employees and teachers (barring those that are 65+ and have already received the vaccine)??? Or will it be a first come, first served basis? Provided the state continues to receive adequate vaccine supplies, of course. Well that sounds like a good plan and I do believe that I read somewhere that Biden will have all schools open after his first 100 days. Fayette County has been open all along. Such a trend-setting county! And I don’t believe any teachers or students died from covid first semester. I hope the schools keep up the good work.
Lets not forget where this virus really came from and use the real name…..China Virus.
Amen Brother…many Americans don’t understand that there are large portions of the world that would delight in the thought of all Americans dying from the China Virus…either because they are Communist or because of some misguided belief in a religion.
The virus name is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or … SARS-CoV-2. Somehow virology and its science still baffle and confound the Trumplicans. Perhaps by naming it the Trump-Virus or Bleach-Virus it would help to better explain the rapid pandemic spread here in this country a bit more. Nah, better yet, let’s not dwell on past mistakes, name calling, and poor leadership, but look to cooperative science and true leadership to pull us through.
So only at this point have we decided not to name a virus frim whence it came from….Spanishflu, Hong Kong flu, Asian flu, Mexican swine flu, Mers, Sars, Lyme disease. At the urging of the Chinese Communist Party, WHO changed the naming so as not to relect on Chinas sole responsibility of all this…
The responsibility does not rest entirely on China. They tried to cover it up and acted slowly, but the situation in the US is the result of a lack of strong federal response. Leaving each state to act on it’s own, a lockdown doesn’t do much if it isn’t across the entire US. Another place where we dropped the ball was reopening bars but not schools, we have evidence that transmission rates in elementary and middle schools is near zero. The same can’t be said for bars, but schools don’t make money and that’s all that our government seems to care about; maximizing profits for the 1% while the rest of the country goes broke.
We are the United States of America for a reason. The Federal Govt doesn’t have the power to dictate to each state in the manner in which you would have liked. Thankfully.
Yet you support and voted for a US Rep (Ferguson) and US Senators that do the opposite (federal interference and/or influence on state rights). Hypocrisy, thy name is spyglass.
If using your logic Flagger, on naming a virus by its origin, then perhaps the Spanish flu (1918) should be named the Kansas flu or the Doughboy virus? Specifically that virus subtype is known as H1N1, along with the Mexican swine flu. And then you have H2N2 for the Asian strain and H3N2 for the Hong Kong strains; all of which are strains of the influenza virus A. You should do more reading flag-boy instead of relying on talking heads and their speech.