Gov. Kemp tours Kroger clinic, speaks about new strains of COVID-19

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp toured a vaccination site at a Kroger in DeKalb County Thursday and talked about his concern that the state’s small supply of vaccines is not enough to cover the ongoing demand.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was there as Kemp and Dr. Kathleen Toomey visited the Kroger in Brookhaven to see how the chain, as well as Publix and Ingles, are distributing the vaccine.

Kemp said the state will only get around 156,000 doses a week for the next three weeks, which is not enough to meet demand.

“We’re getting them in, we’re getting them out, and we’re getting shots in arms,” Kemp said. “But it’s going to be hard for us to do much more than we’re doing now until we get more supply.”

[SPECIAL SECTION: COVID-19 Vaccine in Georgia]

State leaders are pushing for more vaccines as the virus mutates. There are 23 confirmed cases of the new variants in Georgia.

“It means these variants are widespread, probably throughout Georgia. And so, it just reinforces those prevention messages the governor has repeated so many times,” Toomey said.

Kemp and Toomey are trying to ramp up vaccine sites to get them ready for when more vaccines eventually arrive.

[LINK: Where to find the COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia]

More than 2 million people in Georgia are eligible to receive the vaccine right now.

As of Wednesday, there have been 763,077 positive cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. There is currently a 11.2% positive rate. At least 13,048 people across the state have died of the coronavirus.

More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines given out so far, Gov. Kemp says This comes as the Department of Public Health says there are now 23 confirmed cases of the highly contagious UK variant across the state.

Cox Media Group