Georgia to begin vaccinating some first responders, 65 and older Monday
ATLANTA - Starting Monday, more Georgians will be able eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, depending on supply.
"Last week we announced that we would be expanding the Phase 1A criteria to include people over 65 and firefighters, law enforcement, as well as first responders," said Gov. Brian Kemp. "I'm happy to report that beginning soon Georgians over 65 and those other priority populations can visit the Georgia Department of Public Health's website to find locations in your community where you can schedule an appointment for the vaccine."
Some metro-Atlanta health departments, including DeKalb County, have already begun offering appointments for Phase 1A on their websites.
Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the state has received a total of nearly 554,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. As of Thursday evening, the state had distributed 135,605, which represents less than 25% of the doses on hand.
That data, however, is not cut and dry. The number of vaccines administered includes some healthcare workers twice--those who have already received both doses. Officials with the governor's office also said some providers have not updated their numbers in the Georgia Registry of Immunization Transactions and Services, also known as GRITS.
SEE ALSO: How to get the coronavirus vaccine in Georgia
"We were able to identify several large hospital systems who had reported what I'll call 'null data' that was in single digits or double digits when they had received thousands of vaccine doses," said Ryan Loke, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the governor's office. "So, public health and their team are working incredibly quickly with those hospital systems right now to identify how many doses they've actually reported, what problems they might be having with inputting information into GRITS and I expect today you're going to see a large uptake in the number of vaccines reported and then through the course of the next week or so getting caught up on the backlog of GRITS reporting."
WATCH: FOX 5 Atlanta live news coverage
Gov. Kemp said the state currently has the capacity to administer 11,428 doses of the vaccine each day, or about 80,000 per week. Thursday he signed an executive order clarifying that EMTs and cardiac technicians, as well as paramedics, can conduct vaccinations.
"This important action growing the number of people who can vaccinate by more than 10,000 takes us one step further to our ultimate goal of growing the number of people who can be vaccinated," Kemp explained.
SEE ALSO: Are you 65? Here's how to (maybe) find the COVID vaccine in GA
The governor reminded Georgians that they should continue to wear masks, wash their hands, practice social distancing, and follow the advice of public health officials.
"We have much hope on the horizon, but we've got to hunker down and continue to fight through this together," said Gov. Kemp.
Download the FOX 5 Atlanta app for breaking news and weather alerts.