Experts express urgency of correcting Georgia's slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccine

Georgia is still lagging when it comes to administering doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The rate of vaccination in the state has improved, but there are still thousands of doses in the state that haven't been administered.

As of March 8, more than 2.3 million doses have been administered.

However, some medical experts told FOX 5, Georgia is not moving fast enough.

"We are behind. We are well behind," said Ben Lopman, Professor of Epidemiology at Emory University.

According to the CDC, Georgia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

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"If we want to get this epidemic under control, the vaccine has to get rolled out, and the fact that we have this supply that's not being used is what concerns me," said Lopman.

Lopman told FOX 5, he's concerned about why there are thousands of doses of the vaccine that have been shipped to Georgia and many of them haven't been administered.

According to Georgia's Department of Health, more than 2.3 million doses of vaccine have been administered, but the state has received almost 2.9 million doses.

"The question now is why do we still have this surplus of doses on hand and does that account for the reasons why we have such a low vaccination rate in our population," said Epidemiologist Dr. Amber Schmidtke.

Gov. Brian Kemp defended the state's vaccine rollout at a news conference on Monday. He said the state is doing better than average when it comes to vaccinating people 65 and older. Kemp said about 64% of that population has been vaccinated in Georgia. According to the CDC, the national average for vaccinating people 65 and older is about 59%.

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"What Dr. Toomey and I are trying to do is save lives and reduce tragic medical events and hospitalizations and that's why we've been focused on seniors," said Kemp. "If you look at that figure compared nationally, we are doing better than most."

The rate of administering the first dose of the vaccine in Georgia is about 13%, that's according to the CDC. The national average for people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine is 18%.

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Dr. Schmidtke said she is encouraged after the state opened four mass vaccination sites last month. Five more sites are scheduled to open later in March.

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