County vaccination campaign receives shot in the arm
Due to a special shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Walker County offered vaccinations March 9-11 for eligible Georgia residents by appointment at the Walker County Civic Center campus.
The civic center campus in Rock Spring was transformed into a location capable of administering more than 1,100 doses over those days. The county announced Thursday, March 11, morning that it still had 130 same-day vaccination appointments available for eligible for the drive-thru appointments and expected to administer all of them that day, Joe Legge, Walker County public relations director, said.
“We requested the vaccine from the state based on the backlog of residents that had called the county’s COVID-19 vaccine hotline to get a vaccination appointment,” Legge said. “We are incredibly grateful for Georgia DPH (Department of Public Health) Commissioner Kathleen Toomey and her staff for meeting with our team to discuss solutions to vaccine availability in Northwest Georgia.”
Like the Moderna vaccine that Walker County Health Department has been administering, the Pfizer vaccine also requires a second dose, which is required approximately 21 days after the first, Legge said. Officials anticipate another Pfizer vaccine shipment to provide the second dose for those being vaccinated, but no other special shipments are expected at this time.
“We will likely schedule another drive-thru event for these individuals to limit confusion,” he said.
Demand for the vaccine has exceeded supply since the county launched the vaccination hotline in late January. The backlog increased even more when winter storms temporar
ily disrupted vaccine shipments last month, causing the county to exhaust its supply of vaccine for a few days.
“We found out late last week (week of Feb. 28) and started scheduling appointments to clear out the backlog on the hotline,” he said. “As the hotline staff went through the list, they spoke to a number of individuals that had found the vaccine elsewhere. This is why we are spreading the word that we have openings for appointments for this vaccination.”
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are not interchangeable. A patient must take both doses of the vaccine by the same manufacturer.
“Patients do need to keep their (vaccination) card to ensure they receive a matching second dose,” Legge advised.
Health Department employees were expected to return to their office in LaFayette after the drive-thru clinic to handle previously scheduled appointments, he said.
Those who were eligible for the two-day vaccination blitz included individuals age 65 and older and their caregivers, healthcare personnel, longterm care facility residents and staff, law enforcement and fire personnel, EMS personnel and 911 operators.
Expanded eligibility
Effective March 8 pre-K, K-12 and DECAL licensed or exempt childcare programs educators and staff are now eligible for the vaccine.
Also newly-eligible are adults with intellectual and developmental dis
abilities and their caregivers and parents of children with complex medical conditions.
An intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before age 22.
A developmental disability is a physical or mental impairment that happens before age 22, is expected to last a lifetime and impacts at least three activities of daily living. Activities of daily living include self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living and economic self-sufficiency.
Complex medical conditions include malignancies requiring active treatment, immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) including organ transplant (bone marrow or solid organ) within 2 years, critical congenital heart disease, asthma (moderate to severe), sickle cell disease, diabetes, obesity (BMI >95%), cystic fibrosis, technology dependence (e.g. BiPAP, trach) and significant neurologic injury or condition (e.g. hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, traumatic brain injury, congenital anomaly, acute flaccid myelitis) with functional/developmental impairment (e.g. cerebral palsy, developmental disability, prematurity, mitochondrial disease).
Eligibility effective March 15
The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and Gov. Brian Kemp announced
March 10 the state will expand its vaccine eligibility March 15 to include adults aged 55 and older, individuals with disabilities and certain medical conditions.
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are already eligible for vaccination. This expansion includes dis
abilities caused by an injury (e.g., traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury), a disability due to a longstanding condition that could cause vision loss, nerve damage or loss of a limb, or a disability due to illness such as ALS or multiple sclerosis.
The medical conditions
referenced are:
♦ Asthma (moderate to severe)
♦ Cancer
♦ Cerebrovascular disease
♦ Chronic kidney disease
♦ Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
♦ Cystic Fibrosis
♦ Diabetes
♦ Hypertension or high
blood pressure
♦ Heart conditions
♦ Immunocompromised
♦ Liver disease
♦ Neurologic conditions
♦ Overweight and obesity
♦ Pregnancy
♦ Pulmonary fibrosis
♦ Sickle Cell Disease
♦ Thalassemia (blood disorder)