More than 5 million Georgians now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, health officials say

Local doctors urge people to get COVID-19 vaccine

The chief of staff of a Georgia-based health system said unvaccinated are driving a surge in cases. They expect the cases to peak in September.

ATLANTA - Georgia reached a major milestone Thursday with state officials reporting more than 5 million Georgians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The last week saw a spike in the number of vaccinations being administered, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. This week saw an average of more than 28,000 vaccinated administered a day compared to the previous week of just under 21,000, according to the state’s data.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, 5,011,545 people in Georgia were fully vaccinated, according to the GDPH. That is a rate of about 17,700 people per day over the last 283 days, the earliest date someone could have received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

In Georgia, nearly 55% of those eligible and nearly 77% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those numbers are still below the national average of 76.2% of those eligible and 94.7% of those 65 and older.

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Report shows COVID vaccine success for Georgia seniors

A new study says that 700 more Georgians over the age of 65 would likely have died from COVID if they didn't get vaccinated.

The delta wave of the pandemic began around the start of July. In that time, the GDPH has recorded more than 464,820 new cases, or about 29% of the total cases during the pandemic and 5,583 deaths or about 20.6% of all deaths from COVID-19. More than 15% of all COVID-19 cases resulting in ICU care and 20.7% of all COVID-19 cases resulting in hospitalizations also occurred during the same period, according to GDPH data.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, there had been 1,599,393 confirmed cases, 27,011 deaths, 13,011 ICU cases, and 82,365 hospitalizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GPDH says.

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Less than half of Georgians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It's up to physicians to convince patients to roll up their sleeves. Georgians explained to the FOX Medical Team why they're hesitant.

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The GDPH is hopeful as its data indicates new cases have slowed and current hospitalizations have been on the decline over the past few weeks. Current hospitalizations from COVID-19 are nearly half the number the GDPH reported at the beginning of September.

Learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine and where to get one in Georgia by clicking here.

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