The push to have Georgia students in school five days a week has many demanding that Governor Brian Kemp include educators and school staff on the priority vaccination list. In a letter to the Atlanta Board of Education posted on social media, Kemp shared, "If the state were receiving an adequate supply of the COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Toomey and I would quickly move to expand the vaccination criteria." Kemp continued by saying, "The truth is that our current vaccine supply is not enough to expand the 1A+ vaccination criteria."
During a press conference on Thursday, Kemp changed course and announced that all Georgia educators and school staff of public and private schools would be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination starting March 8th. He added, "adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as their caregivers and parents with children who have complex medical conditions", will also be eligible for vaccination.
This month, the Biden administration signed the final contracts for 100 million more doses of the Moderna vaccine and 100 million more from Pfizer and BioNTech. However, on Thursday, Kemp also shared, "We have not yet been informed by the Biden administration that we will receive any increase in our allotment above the 120,000 that we're currently getting."
Vaccine availability has been an obstacle for many states across the nation. The reality is that the demand for the vaccine outweighs the supply. On Wednesday, Moderna and Pfizer both pledged to make a combined total of 220 million, and Johnson & Johnson pledged to produce 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of March.
As the vaccine 1A+ and 1B list expands, Kemp noted that the state would no longer be using the designations for the new included expanded criteria to avoid confusion. Instead, the health department will list those who are currently eligible as they move forward.