District 2 Public Health has received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine and will begin vaccinating emergency medical personnel on Monday, December 21.
“Following the Georgia Department of Public Health’s vaccination plan and recommendations from the Centers for Disease and Control to first vaccinate frontline healthcare workers, public health is excited to begin this phase of the coronavirus response,” says district director Dr. Zachary Taylor.
District 2, which covers thirteen Northeast Georgia counties, including Habersham and surrounding areas, received 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Public health officials will administer those doses at a clinic for emergency medical services workers next week in Gainesville.
“We have been contacting EMS units, healthcare providers, and long-term care facilities for numbers of workers to vaccinate,” says district spokesperson Dave Palmer. “For Monday and Tuesday, we will start with Hall County EMS and vaccinate those who signed up for the vaccine. From there we will move forward with vaccinating these frontline workers in our other counties.”
Limited supply
Due to the current limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, states are prioritizing it for distribution to those with the highest risk of exposure, including frontline medical professionals and long-term care facility residents. The United States is close to approving a second vaccine, which would increase the supply available to those at-risk groups and the general public.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel Thursday recommended the FDA authorize emergency use of the Moderna vaccine. The advisory panel voted 20-0 with one abstention that the benefits of the Moderna vaccine outweighed the risks for those aged 18 and over. Last week, the same committee backed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, leading to its authorization for emergency use the following day.
The head of the FDA says the agency will move quickly to authorize the Moderna vaccine.
Infections and hope are rising
The United States has recorded more COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other country in the world. According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has confirmed at least 17.2 million cases and 311,010 deaths.
Georgia is combating a third surge that’s proven as bad, if not worse, than previous surges in the spring and summer. On December 17, state public health officials confirmed 5,890 new cases of COVID-19 and reported 2,174 antigen-positive tests. Those figures combined represent a single-day increase of more than 8,000 new cases of the virus.
The vaccine is not required but it is highly recommended, especially for those at high risk of infection. After nearly a year of politicization of the pandemic and the public disinformation campaign that has occurred along with it, many remain skeptical about the vaccine’s efficacy and safety. Still, local health professionals are eagerly embracing this new weapon in the fight against COVID.
“It felt like Christmas came early,” said Northeast Georgia Health System President and CEO Carol Burrell after seven NGHS employees were vaccinated on December 17. The seven include four nurses, a doctor, a respiratory therapist, and one of the health system’s environmental services technicians.
“Getting a vaccine to combat this disease and save lives is remarkable,” says Dr. Green.
While the vaccine brings increased hope that these are the beginning days of the end of the pandemic, infectious disease experts and public officials warn people still need to take precautions.
“It’s important to remember that vaccination isn’t a magic bullet that will end the pandemic immediately,” says Dr. Supriya Mannepalli, head of infectious disease medicine at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. People should continue to follow CDC guidance to slow the spread of the virus until enough people are vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
