Georgia Surpasses 1M Vaccinations; Demand Still Outpacing Supply

MARIETTA, GA — While visiting the mass coronavirus vaccination site Wednesday at Jim R. Miller Park in Marietta, Gov. Brian Kemp said vaccine providers across the state have administered one million vaccines as of Wednesday — and projected by Wednesday night, 500,000 seniors will have received their first COVID-19 dose.

But there are still two million Georgians currently eligible that have yet to be vaccinated, Kemp said. Even with the Biden administration's plan to release more vaccine supplies directly to pharmacies — which will increase Georgia's weekly vaccine allotment from 120,000 to 154,000, according to Kemp — the supply will still not meet the demand for vaccines in Georgia.

Georgians age 65 and older, health care workers and public safety officers, as well as long-term care facility residents and staff, fall into the state's current phase of the vaccine rollout, which is Phase 1A+.

"Georgia's vaccine supply continues to not meet the demand that we have out in the community," Kemp said. "Our demand is drastically outpacing the supply that we're seeing in our state."

The state received criticism from 11 metro Atlanta superintendents for not prioritizing vaccinations for teachers and education staff, but a spokesperson for Kemp said last week there is simply not enough vaccines available to speed up the process or add more categories to the eligibility list.

"I wish we could add teachers right now. I have grocery store clerks that are on the front lines, facing people every day ... all kinds of different businesses, restaurant workers — you can make the case for a lot of different people that [will] be included in the next phase and we want to include them all [now]," Kemp said Wednesday. "But right now, the best public health response with the supply that we have is to protect the people that are the most vulnerable, and that is what we are doing."

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, echoed Kemp's comments. She said people age 65 and older are more likely to die from the virus or have severe, sometimes deadly complications, which is why they are in the highest priority category for vaccinations — what she called a "risk-based approach" to vaccine distribution.

"I think there's somehow the misinterpretation that if someone isn't in the group [eligible for vaccines] that we don't value them or we don't think they're as important to have them vaccinated. We want everybody vaccinated, and I would love it if we had enough vaccines to vaccinate and open up," Toomey said. "The problem is always going to be adequacy of vaccine supply and ensuring a risk-based approach."

Kemp said his team is working on setting up mass vaccination sites across the state, but there is not enough supply to open any sites at this time. He and Toomey urged the public to be patient.

"I would urge you to continue to be patient and follow the guidance that we have have been putting out for many months," Kemp said.