Georgia began Monday to quell the COVID-19 demand rush for those able to get vaccines into their arms and frustrations for those who couldn’t.
Appointments were quickly filled at vaccination sites in Fulton County, DeKalb County, Macon and Habersham County. Fulton’s vaccine hotline saw an increase in callers trying to get a place in line. Others worked through the many state and pharmacy sign-up websites available to Georgians, only to be met with slots gone and a promise to be contacted at a later date.
Rural areas of Georgia saw the opposite situation, with a shipment of more doses that exceeds the number of people willing or able to take them. Some Atlanta vaccine seekers have been taking advantage of the low demand by booking appointments in distant zip codes, and Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday urged Atlanta-area residents to do just that to prevent vaccines going to waste.
The governor’s office said the state is considering redirecting vaccine allotments to areas with higher demand.
“The metro-Atlanta mass vaccination sites are completely booked this week,” a Kemp spokeswoman said in a written statement. “Outside of the Atlanta area, the Habersham and Lakepoint (which opens next week) sites are booked as well. Governor Kemp urges eligible Georgians in the metro Atlanta area who are unable to get an appointment to consider driving to a south Georgia site where appointments are more available.”
Eva Lee, a vaccine distribution expert and director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Operations Research in Medicine and Healthcare, queried how metro Atlanta’s working poor are supposed to take time off work and make a six- to eight-hour round trip drive. Ideally, she said, people should have to drive no more than 10 to 20 miles to reach a vaccine site.
“It’s a burden for working people,” said Lee. “How do you think these people will ever get vaccinated?”
Monday, despite the aforementioned glitches, those who managed to book appointments found operations running smoothly at vaccination sites.
DeKalb County health officials operating a vaccination site at the Doraville MARTA station scheduled 420 appointments Monday, most for the second shot. People waited in their vehicles before being called inside two giant white tents to get the vaccine.
The Georgia Department of Public Health has not completed first-day statistics yet on appointments booked or doses administered statewide.
Gov. Kemp announced last week that those 55 and older and those with a long list of health issues would be eligible starting Monday. Now those who have asthma, compromised immune systems, lung disease, cancer, diabetes and sickle cell disease, or even those who are just overweight, can get in line.
This is now the state’s biggest effort to efficiently and quickly vaccinate masses of adults.
The DPH website is one of two operated by the state through which people can try to register for vaccine. The other is run by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. They’re not linked, so unfortunately if there are open appointments in one system, a person who’s wait-listed on the other system won’t know it.
Hana Schank, director of public interest technology for New America, a public policy think tank, said having two state sites plus multiple private providers is likely frustrating people. She pointed to more efficient operations in places such as Virginia, which has a one-stop, centralized sign-up website.
State officials have pushed the GEMA website as the simpler go-to resource to get large numbers of people vaccinated at sites the agency runs. When using this site, it is important to scroll past the list of vaccination sites and phone numbers is a place for entering an email address and phone number. This will allow persons to receive an email within 24 to 48 hours enabling registration for an appointment or getting on a waiting list.
While the state site at the Habersham County Fairgrounds in Clarkesville was booked, the operation seemed efficient.
A steady stream of cars made their way through various checkpoints for doses of the Pfizer vaccine, then waited for about 15 minutes in a parking area. Don Strength, the site manager, said most people were coming from metro Atlanta, adding that people from throughout the state are welcome.
He said the site on Monday was starting its fourth week and with expanded eligibility was increasing its daily number of vaccines administered to 2,100 per day, up from 1,000 per day in previous weeks. He said the site could likely increase the capacity to close to 3,000 doses per day.
Who are given COVID-19 vaccine priority in Georgia?
What are the COVID-19 travel restrictions in Georgia?
There are no restrictions for travel to, from, or within Georgia. If you leave your home, you must follow social distancing, sanitation, and public health safety measures and local laws. If you test positive for COVID-19, you must follow home isolation protocol.
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