Georgia making progress with COVID-19 vaccinations but there’s still lack of supply

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp said the state is doing what it can to get COVID-19 vaccine doses to the public.

Kemp and Georgia Public Health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey held a news conference Tuesday to update the progress on vaccinating the Phase 1A group.

But Kemp said a lack of vaccine supply is hurting how quickly the state can administer shots.

“We can’t really ramp up too much further right now from where we are because we don’t have an additional supply of the vaccine,” he said.

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Kemp said his office is working with the new Biden administration to get more vaccines to Georgia.

President Joe Biden announced later Tuesday afternoon that his administration will increase weekly COVID-19 vaccination doses to each state.

But Toomey still worries that Georgia may not get enough.

“I want to remind everyone that our total allocation really is not very large for a state of our size with a population of 11 million,” she said.

Kemp pointed out the hospitalization and positivity rates and the seven day moving average for cases are all still high, but at their lowest levels since the beginning of the year.

The declines signal the hope that Georgia is past the peak of the post-holiday surge, but the governor still urges caution.

“It’s a move in right direction, but it cannot be an all-clear signal,” he said.

The governor admitted the state isn’t halfway through vaccinating the 2 million people in Group 1A.

However, the state has administered vaccines to virtually all of Georgia’s nursing homes, so it will be able to redirect about 40,000 vaccines a week back into the general supply.

Kemp promised to continue to communicate and work with the Biden administration to be ready when the state can get more vaccines.

“At some point, whenever it is that they tell us that we get more supply, we’re going to be ready to deal with it from the state perspective,” he said.