The Sunday Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the state of Georgia has been provided with 700,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, and that to date we have managed to inoculate only 227,000 Georgians. That’s about a 32 percent success rate.
Yet when I go to the Covid-19 vaccination appointment web page I am told that “we are completely out of vaccine” and that the call center cannot take any further appointment until January 19th. We closed the vaccine appointment center during a pandemic to take a day off?
We tout Georgia as a great place to move to and live; a great place for business. But we cannot find a system to inoculate our population in a pandemic?
Right now, according to the CDC, Georgia is inoculating 2,180 per 100,000 residents. Florida is vaccinating about 3,900; Mississippi about 2,800; and West Virginia 7,400 per 100,000. Do these states have such better public health systems than Georgia?
I would like to suggest this to Governor Kemp: If by next month your Department of Health leadership cannot get the inoculation rate up to at least what Mississippi is doing, terminate every state and county official who is failing in this effort and appoint their deputies to take over their jobs.
If those in turn cannot do their job, terminate them also and try someone else in the department who might be able to accomplish this mission.
If you cannot find anyone capable within the Department of Health to administer this program successfully, I suggest that you contract this vaccination program out to a healthcare provider who can do the job or at least study the West Virginia model and see if it can be applied to Georgia.
We are paying millions of dollars in salaries to individuals who cannot do their jobs or maybe are not qualified to do their jobs. We have had almost a year to get ready for a vaccine and we are telling Georgians we have run out of vaccine and cannot keep a call center open on a holiday.
Let’s find some folks who can do the job.
P. T. Pearse
Fayetteville, Ga.
It seems that Georgia Public Health has been woefully inadequately prepared to handle this job.
-the telephone lines were overloaded
-the telephone lines were not operated 24 x 7
-information concerning the procedures was conflicting and inconsistent
there is NO excuse for vaccination not being available to the eligible groups en masse, immediately.
The leadership in GA Public Health who have failed so miserable should be immediately terminated and replaced by people who are willing to DO THE JOB.
On a positive note, when (after roughly 400 attempts) I finally was able to schedule my 1st vaccination, the person on the telephone was helpful, polite and even cheerful after what must have been a difficult day.
While we politely discuss political issues, take a break from posting and view the International Space Station as it will be especially bright tonight. It raises off the Southwest horizon at 1848 and is directly overhead at 1852 and continues to the Northeast. It enters the earth’s shadow at around 1854.
Enjoy
I know that West Virginia hasn’t contracted with CVS or walgreens, which is why they were able to get so many people vaccinated, because those large companies don’t have much profit incentive to move quickly like smaller pharmacies the WV is working with.