Vaccines available to all Georgia adults

All Georgians 16 and older became eligible Thursday for the COVID-19 vaccine, and state emergency management officials said four of their sites were accepting people without appointments.

None of those sites, however, were in the metro Atlanta area, where getting the vaccine was a challenge even before Thursday’s wider rollout.

Gov. Brian Kemp said earlier this week the state was ready to expand eligibility to the broadest possible population, saying supplies of the vaccine continued to rise and he was confident that enough older adults had been vaccinated.

Sherri Scott told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she felt a deep sense of relief that her two sons, 17 and 19, were now eligible for a vaccine and didn’t expect that would happen until later in the year.

“I feel like the sun is peeking through the clouds,” the Atlanta resident said.

Georgia had previously limited eligibility to people 55 and older, people with serious health conditions and those who are overweight and obese. Also eligible are preschool and K-12 education employees, medical workers, emergency workers, residents and employees of long-term care facilities, intellectually disabled adults, and parents of children with certain complicated medical conditions.

The four state emergency management sites that were accepting people for vaccination without appointments are in Sandersville, Savannah, Waycross and Columbus. State officials said they still preferred that people make appointments.