Health care officials in North Georgia said Wednesday they are making steady progress at administering the COVID-19 vaccine, but they also acknowledged that demand for it far exceeds the current available supply.
Officials at Northeast Georgia Medical Center and Longstreet Clinic said they hope to ramp up the number of clinics they will offer to residents over the age of 65, the current group eligible for the vaccine, as more doses become available.
Georgia has about 2 million residents over 65. But the state s supply lags behind that number, said Dr. Zachary Taylor of District 2 Public Health. The task we have in front of us to protest those who are 65 and older is enormous, Taylor said. It s very important that we get this group of people vaccinated primarily because we want to protect them. They are the ones who tend to have more severe illnesses. They are the ones who tend to be hospitalized. And frankly, the vast majority of our deaths have occurred in this population.