Local health officials are providing an update on COVID-19 vaccine administration in northeast Georgia following a drop in demand for the vaccine.
Leyna Mashburn, the immunization coordinator for District 2 Public Health, said the health department has had to shift its focus.
“When we first started our vaccination efforts, we were able to hold these mass vaccination sites and have people come to us,” Mashburn said. “Now, we are having to go into the community to bring the vaccines to people, and that strategy has worked well in recent months.”
Mashburn said Hall County and Forsyth County both still have offsite vaccination clinics, but the other 11 counties in the district have returned to vaccinating people at their respective health departments.
So far, District Two has administered about 250,000 COVID-19 vaccines throughout the district. About 34 percent of Hall County’s population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the Department of Public Health.
Bobby Norris, vice president of operations for Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, said demand is also down at NGPG.
“We’re not doing our mass vaccination clinics, but each primary care office is holding their own vaccination days,” Norris said. “We’re trying to start vaccinating for COVID, just like we would for flu. We have it in our offices and anytime a patient is willing to get the vaccine we can open a vile and give it to them.”
Norris said this strategy change is only possible due to the decrease in demand for the vaccine. Now, Norris said NGPG is working to get as much information to the public as possible about the vaccine’s safety.
“Right now, in the primary care offices, whether it's a physician or advanced practice provider, they’re having the conversation one on one with the patient,” Norris said. “They’re helping them understand that the vaccine is safe and that it did go through the necessary trials to be approved.”
One popular topic surrounding the vaccines is booster shots, and how often people will need to renew their protection against COVID-19. A recent medical study published in Nature indicates that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines may offer longer-lasting protection than originally believed.
Dr. Sakib Maya, a physician with NGPG, said there will need to be a lot more research on the topic, but it could be good news when it comes to booster shots.
“We talked about how the booster shots can be annually just like the flu shot,” Dr. Maya said. “I think with this new research, it might not be annually, it might be a little bit further away, which is a good thing.”
