North Georgia counties begin offering COVID vaccines for children
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. - Health departments in six north Georgia counties will begin offering COVID-19 shots to children between 5 and 11 years old Monday.
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The North Georgia Health District will begin offering free Pfizer pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations to kids in Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens, and Whitfield counties.
In Sandy Spring, a steady stream of parents brought their kids to get their first shot at Children's Wellness Center last week.
"It was quick, I just felt a good little pinch," Jonathan Prather told FOX 5.
Data from the Georgia Department of Public Health shows a positive sign of the virus' spread trending downward.
COVID hospitalizations in Georgia have continued to fall sharply, while positive cases of the virus have held steady over the past week.
In early September, there were 6,000 hospitalizations because of COVID-19. Last week, there were a little more than 1,000.
In the age range of 5 to 10 years old, there were 737 reports of COVID cases in the last week of October with a single death in Georgia.
Doctors are hoping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's approval of the vaccine for kids will help continue the positive trend.
"When we opened up our app to make appointments - we had 300 prebooked. That's how much excitement we have in our practice," Children's Wellness Center's Dr. Julie Segal said.
No appointments are required to be vaccinated at locations at the six north Georgia counties Monday.
Tuesday, the Fulton County Board of Health will provide shots at its four existing vaccine clinic locations.
Appointments for those vaccinations are required and can be made at the Fulton County government's website.
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