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M News Roundllp
Mayor Keisha Lance Bot
toms signed legislation
authorizing $50 million in
new bond funding. This
brings the city closer to
$100 million in housing
opportunity bonds to
advance the goals of
the mayor's Housing
Affordability Action
Plan.
The One Atlanta:
One APD Immedi
ate Action Plan to
address the uptick in
violent crime in the
city will target gangs
and gun violence,
disrupt street racing
and auto crimes, and
expand the camera
network.
The new Buckhead
Exploratory Com
mittee has formed
to discuss the district
potentially becoming
its own city or joining
another one other
than Atlanta.
The City of
Atlanta will des
ignate the Kodak
building with its
distinctive roof
sign at the corner
of Ponce de Leon
andArgonne
avenues as a his
toric landmark.
Demand for COVID-19 vaccine inundates healthcare providers
By Collin Kelley
Public demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has inundated local health departments
and healthcare providers leading to unanswered phones and crashing websites.
However, most Georgia residents won’t get the vaccine until later this year,
according to state officials.
During a Jan. 12 briefing, Gov. Brian Kemp and State Health Commissioner Dr.
Kathleen Toomey addressed the controversy surrounding the availability of the vaccine,
which must be administered in two doses 21 days apart.
Kemp said the state’s top priority was getting nursing home residents and staff
the end of January. Both CVS and Walgreens pharmacies have been
those doses.
The governor said at the briefing that 1.3 million seniors and 536,000 healthcare
workers in the state needed the vaccine. The state is being allocated 120,000 doses
per week, 40,000 of which were being withheld and sent to CVS and Walgreens for
nursing homes. Some of those doses should be freed up starting this month.
“I would prefer an ample supply and vaccinate everyone immediately, but that is
not possible,” Kemp said.
Kemp also said he’d received reports of some medical facilities holding on to doses
and said the state would seize them. “I’ll fire up my pickup truck and do it myself,”
Kemp said.
He asked the public to be patient and warned there would be waiting, obstacles and
frustration as the vaccine rollout continues. “We are working around the clock to get
vaccines in arms as quickly as safely as we can,” he said.
Toomey said four mass vaccination efforts held last month for metro healthcare
workers saw 10,000 individuals get inoculated
“These large scale events will be important to reach the general public,” Toomey
said. “There will be regional mass vaccination sites with a centralized system for setting
appointments to take strain off local health departments.”
She also noted that regional and retail pharmacies will eventually be added to
the centralized system to get the vaccine. Publix, Kroger, and Ingles, have all started
providing limited vaccine appointments at select locations at supermarkets in the state.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has partnered with Fulton County Board of Health to be
a distribution center for the vaccine. Inoculations began in January for the Phase 1
rollout to include medical practitioners, front line workers and first responders with
more than 4,000 served in the first week. In mid-January, the vaccine rollout was
expanded to 65+ per Fulton County and state guidelines.
The partnership with Mercedes-Benz Stadium will currently run through March
with the option of extending the partnership as needed.
Even as vaccinations ramp up, Georgia reported its first confirmed case of a new
COVID-19 variant that is “significantly more contagious” than the virus that caused
the pandemic, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. The variant
was first discovered in the United Kingdom in November and has spread quickly with
England returning to full lockdown mode last month.
“The emergence of this variant in our state should be a wake-up call for all
Georgians,” Toomey said. “Even as we begin roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine, we must
not let down our guard and ignore basic prevention measures — wear a mask, social
distance and wash your hands frequently.” DU
J
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GEORGIA CENTER
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6065 Roswell Rd, Suite 470, Sandy Springs (Northside Tower)
For further information or an appointment
www.gcadp.com
inoculated by
administering
8 February 2021 | DU
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