State health officials say the districts with the lowest "met need" will receive the first shipments of the remaining national supply allocated for Georgia.
In the 13-county area served by the District Two Health Office in Gainesville, about 58,000 doses of the vaccine have been received; the priority group need is estimated at 157,000. That means about 63% of the people in at-risk groups are still in need of a shot. In some places in the state, the number is as high as 77%.
Health officials are comparing the estimates of priority populations and the amount of vaccine distributed to each health district in order to estimate the "met need" for each area of the state. The districts with the lowest "met need" will receive the first shipments of the remaining national supply allocated for Georgia.
Similarly, the CDC determined that Georgia will receive 215,000 doses of the remaining vaccine by comparing the number of doses of influenza vaccine already sent to Georgia with estimates of the number of Georgians in the priority groups. Shipments are expected to arrive incrementally throughout December and January, and the DHR Division of Public Health will continually assess each region's need for vaccine so that it can quickly be directed to areas of the state with the greatest need.
The DHR Division of Public Health is reminding parents that if your child is 6-23 months or has a chronic medical condition, that the child's healthcare provider may have vaccine available. Parents should contact their child's healthcare provider or their county health department for more information.
"We estimate that there are 2-3 million Georgians in the priority groups for influenza vaccine, and we do not expect to receive 2-3 million doses of vaccine," explained Dr. Kathleen E. Toomey, director of the DHR Division of Public Health. "Our goal is to evenly distribute the remaining vaccine across the state, and make as much vaccine available to as many members of the priority groups as possible."
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