More doses coming

The state has been rapidly expanding the pool of those eligible for vaccines as the federal government has provided an influx of doses.

Last week, the White House announced plans to administer 42,000 doses a week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta. The doses are on top of the state’s regular allocation of vaccines. The site, which is expected to be up and running in the next two weeks, will operate seven days a week for an eight-week period. Vaccine eligibility will follow state guidelines, officials said.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the federal government will purchase an additional 100 million doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And, in his first prime-time address to the nation Thursday, he said he would direct states to make all American adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1.

In Georgia, now eligible for vaccination are teachers, school staffers, day care workers, adults with intellectual disabilities, parents of children with “complex medical conditions,” those 65 and older, health care workers, the residents and staff of long-term care facilities and first responders.

With the newly expanded pool included, 92% of all Georgia’s deaths involved people who fit into one of the now eligible categories, Kemp said.

The state is preparing to open new mass vaccination sites in Bartow, Chatham, Muscogee, Ware and Washington counties to bolster the public health infrastructure. That’s in addition to existing centers in metro Atlanta, Albany, Macon and Habersham County in northeast Georgia.

ALYSSA POINTER/ALYSSA. POINTER@AJC.COM Johnny Simmons (left), a patient at Westbury Medical Care and Rehab in Jackson, embraces his mother, Lucille Simmons, during a visit March 4. Johnny’s sister, Betty Crowder, assists his mother.