Kemp expands vaccine eligibility to teachers and school staff, adults with intellectual disabilities, others

Published 6:07 pm Thursday, February 25, 2021

ATLANTA — Georgia’s teachers and school staff will be on the list of people who can receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 8.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday he is expanding the list of eligible individuals who can start receiving vaccine doses to protect against the virus.

Also newly eligible will be those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers and parents of children with “complex medical conditions.”

State officials estimate the expansion will add about 1 million Georgians to the list of people eligible for vaccinations.

The change in presidential administrations has led to a 70% increase in vaccine supply being sent to the state from the federal government, Kemp said. The increase prompted state officials to feel “confident” enough to expand the criteria of those who are eligible for the vaccine.

Throughout the pandemic, Kemp has remained steadfast in his belief that children should be physically in schools.

“I believe it is vitally important for more Georgians to return to normal, and for too many parents this is simply impossible to do while your child is at home learning through a screen,” Kemp said Thursday. “Virtual schooling is leaving too many children behind and parents are literally at wit’s end.”

Georgia’s pre-K and K-12 public and private school faculty members and Department of Early Care and Learning educators can make an appointment to get a vaccine starting next month. College educators and staff are not among the new expansion.

“We cannot delay full, in-person learning any longer,” Kemp said. “Our children cannot afford to wait until fall. The costs are simply too high.”

In the days leading up to the new expansion, schools will need to work with the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Department of Public Health to coordinate a vaccination strategy.

The Republican governor had held off increasing the number of individuals who are eligible, citing the limited number of doses coming to the state from the federal government. But that decision was met with criticism that teachers and individuals with medical conditions that put them at higher risk weren’t moved forward in line.

More than two months after the first vaccine was administered, about 1.2 million Peach State residents have received the vaccine, which is more than half of those eligible in the first phase of distribution.

Kemp said the state will not be expanding eligibility any further in the first phase of vaccine distribution but will reconsider in March if it’s possible to move forward with vaccinating more populations.

Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said the state is seeing “significant improvements” in case, hospitalization and testing metrics.

Toomey added that the number of cases in long-term care facilities — some of which have been devastated by the spread of the virus from within — has been declining.

“We are seeing a decline in the number of outbreaks and the number of cases,” she said. “That change clearly reflects the fact that we prioritize those facilities as vaccination sites.”

Kemp was careful to remind Georgians that while the vaccine supply is increasing and more Georgians are eligible, it will be a long time before all Georgians are vaccinated.

“There will be more demand for the vaccine than the state has supply,” he said. “With the expanded criteria we are announcing today, I continue to ask Georgians for their patience.”

The state’s new mass vaccination sites have vaccinated 11,000 people in the first three days of operation. Due to the large turnout, the sites are going back to appointment-only vaccinations.

Riley Bunch covers the Georgia statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites.